A brief history:
The Fallbrook Library was established in 1913 by the Saturday Afternoon Club (the forerunner of the Fallbrook Woman’s Club) and was located in Hardy’s Drug Store. It was the first branch in the San Diego County Public Library system. The library has moved eight times; the first building at its current location was built in 1969 and was about the size of a large home: only 4,300 square feet. This building was destroyed by arson April 1, 1985. According to the Los Angeles Times, the fire caused about $1 million in damage and destroyed 30,000 books. Irreplaceable historical records and original artwork were also destroyed.
After the fire, the San Diego County Library System provided a bookmobile to serve the community for a short time, and the previous storefront location at 133 North Main was set up to house the library temporarily while the library building was under construction. Several bookstores, businesses, and the Salvation Army donated books, as did other libraries in the county system. In 1987 an 8,100 square-foot building was rebuilt at the same location. After 22 years, the library building was demolished to make room for the current, state-of-the-art 17,500 square foot library and cultural center. The Groundbreaking Ceremony held on September 30, 2009, marked the official beginning of construction for the new facility. Today the Fallbrook Library circulates over 240,000 items per year (an increase of 24% in one year), and it is among the top eight of the 32 branches in the County in terms of usage. There are more than 26,000 library cardholders in the Bonsall, DeLuz, Fallbrook and Rainbow areas.