The old part of this building,on the left side of the picture on our home page, was originally known as “the Old Stone Church”. This part of our building was built in 1868 and was the first Universalist Church in Kansas. The Methodist, Presbyterians and Universaliists all donated money to the new building but they were short the money needed to finish the building. The Universalists contributed an extra $1,600.00 and thus it bacame their church, which the other denominations could use.
In March of 1872, the court house burned and the church was rented to the county for a court room and office which payed off the debt remaining on the building. The Memorial windows were added when the church was remodeled in 1905.
In 1928 a garage mechanic in town wanted to buy the building and turn it into a garage. An election was held to turn the old stone church into a public library. The Seneca Women’s Club worked very hard to help get out the vote and get the building for the library. The library moved into its new home in 1931 and was there until 1997. In 1957 the library was remodeled with new wall paper and the ceilings were lowered about six feet.
Blanche Riffer, the woman who lived in the house that had originally been the parsonage, deeded the house to the library after her death. The old house was torn down, a bond issue was passed and donations were collected to bring about the building you see today. The old library was freshened up again and is now used as a community room for library activities and other civic events.