In the early days, Maple Valley was a small collection of businesses and residences congregated around the intersection of S.E. 216th Way and Highway 169, adjacent to the Cedar River. Today that area is home to the Foley’s Market, Good Earth Works, Cascadia Pizza, and others. It was also the location of Maple Valley’s first library, initially housed in the Cedar Grange Hall, then a real estate office, and later a tiny building next to the telephone exchange as seen in last week’s column. That facility was part of the King County Rural Library District formed in 1942 to provide books for people in outlying areas lacking access to city libraries. Bookmobiles were another popular method of distributing reading material to those living in sparsely populated places.
In 1966, the renamed King County Library System asked voters to approve a $6 million bond issue to establish new facilities throughout the county. After passage, the library system constructed a new building for Maple Valley, dedicated in July 1968. It was located on land donated by Joe and Billie Flynn across the Maple Valley Highway from their Wilderness Village commercial center. This building served the area’s library needs until 2000, when a newer facility was constructed on Witte Road at the roundabout entrance to Lake Wilderness. Jim Flynn, the son of Joe and Billie was part of the advisory committee that provided input into the new library’s unique design, nestled within a forest of trees. The former library on the highway is now used as a dance studio. This 1968 photo comes courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah historian. Additional research came from a news article by D’Ann Tedford, which appeared in the June 18, 1975 edition of the Voice of the Valley.
