Drummond: A little library is fitting for Jessamyn West Park

The recent approval of a request from the Yorba Linda Woman’s Club to place a Little Free Library at Jessamyn West Park renews several memories of this community’s early history.

Founded in 1912, the Woman’s Club has long been associated with educational projects and support of libraries, and author Jessamyn West’s connection with Yorba Linda extends well beyond her 1909-26 residency.

In 1913, the club donated $5 and books to the community’s first library, located in a small room in the grammar school building on School Street, and in 1959 the club furnished the landscaping for a new library at Lemon Drive and Olinda Street (now an In-N-Out restaurant).

West, whose father, Eldo, was a superintendent of the area’s mutual water company and a founding school board member, was one of the first patrons of the early library, paying $1, she later said, for one of the first library cards.

West’s Quaker family moved from Indiana to Yorba Linda when she was age 6. For an interview in the weekly Yorba Linda Star newspaper in 1979, West recounted that her first paid writing appeared in the Star, for which she wrote the Social Notes column in 1923-24.

West attended Yorba Linda Elementary School, Fullerton Union High School, Fullerton College and Whittier College before marrying and leaving the community. But West returned frequently for events, including speaking at a library grand opening and on other occasions.

West’s most famous book, “The Friendly Persuasion,” was a collection of short stories that had appeared in various magazines and was published in 1945. She’s also credited for the screenplay for the 1956 film version starring Gary Cooper.

The Woman’s Club request for a Free Little Library in the city park named for the author that opened in 1984 was in a letter to the Parks and Recreation Commission. Club members will assist with the location and stock and maintain the library for a one-year trial period.

The library will be registered with the nonprofit Free Little Library organization, with the motto “Take a Book. Share a Book.” The group’s website lists more than 150,000 libraries that have shared 300 million books

Previously, the commission approved two other free little libraries, one in 2018 at Veterans Park, requested by Girl Scout Troop 3199, and the other in 2019 at Box Canyon Park, requested by resident Michelle Zenk. Others have been installed on private properties.

Perhaps some of the library stock will include West’s novels with a Yorba Linda background or associations, such as 1953’s “Cress Delahanty,” about the title character’s experiences age 12 to 16, and 1961’s “South of the Angels,” about a Yorba Linda-like community in the 1920s.

West’s Yorba Linda-based short stories include “Love, Death and the Ladies Drill Team” in a 1951, “The New Yorker,” collected in a book of the same name, and “The Mysteries of Life in an Orderly Manner” in a 1948 “The New Yorker.”

Jim Drummond is a longtime Yorba Linda resident. He gives his opinion on local issues weekly. Send e-mail to jimdrummond@hotmail.com.