Leeds Historic Downtown Walking Tour Celebrates 100 Years of the Library

Walk the Story of Our Past and Explore the First 100 Years of the Library

Leeds Jane Culbreth Library in partnership with Leeds Historical Society and Leeds Area chamber of Commerce held a historic downtown walking tour to celebrate the 100th birthday of the library on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Everyone was invited to walk the story of our past and explore the first 100 years of the library.

This self-guided walking tour began in the parking lot at the corner of Parkway Drive and 8th Street across from Regions Bank and Leeds Jane Culbreth Library in conjunction with cities all across Alabama who were conducting downtown walking tours during the month of April.

Once you arrived, you received a tour map and had an opportunity to visit each site and different stations around town where historical tour guides shared information along the way. Some of the tour guides were dressed in costume depicting the era of that portion of history. You will able to learn about the different locations of the library, the history of Leeds Jane Culbreth Library and other significant historical downtown buildings, businesses and people who have made an impact on the City of Leeds over the last 100 years.

Each location where the library has been located was be referred to as a “station” on the walking tour. This was a reference to the first library location which was a stop or “station” on the route of the Jefferson County Free Library book wagon. The book wagon, later called the bookmobile, brought hundreds of books to Leeds twice a week from 3:00-5:00 in the afternoon.

Leeds Arts Council had a display of how the library and arts work together. Tour guides, supporting participants and sponsors included Leeds Historical Society, Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce, Casey Parsons and Megan Graham of Guild Mortgage, Friends of the Library, Ken & Susan Nelms, Dona Bonnett, Leeds High School volunteers, the Woman’s Literary Club of Leeds, City of Leeds, Alabama Tourism, Leeds Outreach, Leeds Arts Council and Stratford Real Estate.

You were encouraged to plan about an hour to participate in the tour which entailed an approximate 1.02 mile walk through Leeds historic downtown with five tour guide stations strategically placed along the trail. Downtown retailers were open during the hours of the walk for your shopping convenience.

Leeds had a fabulous time telling the historical significance and an interesting story of how each location helped build and establish our Library’s 100th year legacy as well as celebrate Leeds, Alabama and we look forward to providing individual self-walking tours in the near future.