This year we are celebrating the Seaside Prom Centennial of 100 years. The appealing promenade cement boardwalk that borders the ocean and offers beautiful views. I’ve walked, biked, rollerbladed and ran on the prom for at least 30 years of the 100. But over the last 100 years of the prom and the Seaside Public Library, a lot has changed. Libraries in general have changed quite a bit from 1921 to 2021.
The Seaside Library began eight years before the prom was built, back in 1913. The library started out in the public bathrooms (The old Dresser building where Seaside Coffee House and Tom’s Fish and Chips now live) near the Seaside railroad stop where families got off for the weekends to visit Seaside from Portland. The train took most of the day and cost $2.
Twelve different librarians have managed the Seaside library over the years including myself…