Della Lang Wrote Six Local History Books and Helped Establish the Jefferson County Library District
Arnold Branch of Jefferson County Library
Since March is “National Reading Month,” it seems appropriate to honor Lang, who spent much of her adult life as an author and library volunteer in Arnold, High Ridge, and other local communities.
Except for small book collections at churches and private homes, there were no public libraries in Jefferson County until Lang and her friends created an all-volunteer library in donated space. They really wanted a tax-supported public library to serve all of Jefferson County, but getting one like that would take years of effort.
“I knew Della very well; she was the backbone of Jefferson County’s volunteer library organization,” says her friend Betty Ingram, a retired middle school English teacher. “Della worked very hard to write and sell her own books to raise money to help the volunteer effort,” says Ingram, who also volunteered for the cause. “She was really motivated; you might say she worked harder than anyone,” Ingram adds.
Busy Author
Books that Lang researched, wrote, published, and sold to raise money for the volunteer library include:
- Along Old Gravois
- Country Schools, Jefferson County, Missouri 1806-1952
- The Best of Reflections: Pioneer Families of Northwest Jefferson County
- The Legend of House Springs
- River City: The Story of Fenton, Missouri
- On the Road to History (a sequel to Along Old Gravois)
To write her books, Lang interviewed hundreds of county residents and wrote dozens of articles for Reflections, her self-published magazine. Her husband, Bill, working with a publisher, helped with printing.
Della Lang at a Book Signing Event
Jefferson County Library Northwest Branch
In May 1978, Lang became founding member of a dedicated group of twelve women, including Ingram, who established the Community Library Association to provide library services to much of Jefferson County. Two months later in July 1978, the area’s first informal public library opened in a building on High Ridge Boulevard. Ingram later told a reporter for the Jefferson County Leader, “By September, there were so many donated materials that the library had to move to larger quarters.”
Library Launch
Three years later, on November 23, 1981, the Jefferson County Library District was formally established by the Jefferson County Commission when three County judges appointed five citizens to the inaugural Jefferson County Library Board of Trustees.
That first Board included Della Lang of High Ridge, Ralph Sippel of Arnold, Martha Dodson of Crystal City, Robert Miller of Hillsboro, and Elizabeth Mueller of De Soto. The library did not begin operations until 1989, however, when voters in the Northwest and Fox-Windsor library sub-districts approved a twenty-cent tax levy to support library services in those sub-districts.
The Association was sustained by additional volunteers, donations, fundraisers, sales of Lang’s books, and a small annual membership fee for users. It operated for 12 years – from 1978 to 1990. In that time the Association raised $169,316 in cash for expenses, volunteered 101,294 hours, and circulated 237,293 books.
“ ‘Friends of the Library’ volunteers maintained a space where we stacked new and used book donations to sell at low prices,” Ingram says. “At one point we had a space for storage that caught fire, but luckily we got everything out and moved before it was damaged,” she recalls.
Lang’s dedication was instrumental in establishing tax-supported library services in Jefferson County; she participated in tax levy campaigns in 1981, 1982, 1988, and in the 1989 campaign that successfully established a twenty-cent tax levy to support library services in the Northwest and Fox-Windsor sub-districts of the Jefferson County Library District.
In 1991, a sub-library opened in the basement at Arnold City Hall. In May 2005, the first official Arnold Branch formally opened at 1701 Missouri State Road next to the Arnold Recreation Center and Arnold campus of Jefferson College.
Della Lang Genealogy Room
After more than 15 years of organizational groundwork, Lang and her volunteer team achieved their dream of establishing a high-quality public library serving all of Jefferson County. Lang continued to volunteer in Jefferson County schools to help kids and adults enjoy books before she died in 2017 at age 84.
A loving wife to her husband, Bill Lang, and mother of their three children – Tony, Tina and Terry, Della was a busy member of the Northwest Friends of the Library, and also the Jefferson County Genealogical Society. She was, in addition, a Charter Member and Past President of the Fenton Historical Society.
Library Legend
With a smile, Ginger Brickey, associate at the Northwest Library Branch, says, “Della Lang’s photo hangs on the wall near my desk. It is almost like the boss is still around. Della was a VIP around here who set high-quality standards. She was instrumental in not only creating the library itself, but also in developing its history department and the genealogy department.”
Today the Della Lang Local History and Genealogy Rooms at the Northwest Library Branch, named in Della’s honor, welcome local and global genealogy researchers. Free genealogy classes and access to genealogical databases and collected reference materials are available there for new and experienced researchers.
Betty Ingram says, “I never thought we’d get the tax issue passed and never thought we’d have such beautiful library buildings. I almost get tears in my eyes when I walk into those buildings. I feel proud of what we accomplished by working hard as volunteers. We owe a lot to Della for her inspiration, her motivation, and her hard work. I will never forget her.”
Remember that March is “National Reading Month.” Visit your local Jefferson County Library. Some of Della Lang’s books are available for review, and others are available for supervised research.
Photos courtesy of Jefferson County Library District
Written for the City of Arnold by Jeff Dunlap
