The following article is from the June 21, 2011, Naples Daily News.
Collier County’s libraries began with the Naples Woman’s Club. In 1932, the Woman’s Club received a gift of a donated home at 518 11th Avenue South and it became their first clubhouse. As a service to the community, a small “book room” was set up and when the present Woman’s Club building on Park Street was completed, the “book room” moved there.
In January 1957, with the support of the Naples Woman’s Club, Judge E. A. Wildermuth (also recognized locally for his efforts to fund and build a hospital in Naples), Attorney Ben Parks Jr., Collier County News Editor Michael Chance and others met to loosely form what is now known as the Friends of the Library of Collier County, Inc.
Although it wasn’t until March 1961 that the organization officially incorporated, 1957 marks the year that this small group of library “Friends” began to work toward the creation of a Collier County Free Public Library.
Later that year, the Naples Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the Collier County Commission suggesting that a proposed library system for Collier be considered during upcoming budget hearings. On Sept. 3, 1957, at the regularly scheduled commission meeting in Everglades City (which was the county seat until 1962), they voted 4-1 to create the Collier County Free Public Library.