Books and Our Town: The History of the Rutherford County Library System

In 2023, the Rutherford County Library System will celebrate its 75^th anniversary. The library's long history is chronicled here to commemorate the people and establishments that helped it flourish into the multi-branch organization of today. Beginning with a newspaper editorial by Robert Lasseter lamenting the idea that a college town like Murfreesboro had no public library, leading to the donation of $5,000 seed money from Henry T. Linebaugh, the Mattie V. Linebaugh Public Library was born. Over the past 75 years, five branches and a bookmobile were added to serve the residents of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Eagleville, and Rutherford County, Tennessee.