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Photo of Mary Irene Stanton |
Mary Irene Stanton, educator, was born February 11,
1862 on a farm in Whitfield County, GA. She was the
ninth and youngest child of John Wesley Stanton and
Lucinda Hale. When Mary was one, the family moved to
Gordon Co., GA and lived on the farm until she moved the
Southwest in 1884.
Stanton received her teaching degree from the North
Georgia Agricultural College at Dahlonega. In 1883, she
received her B.S. degree from the Austin Female Seminary
in Plainville, GA.
On or about March 1, 1884, Mary arrived in El Paso, TX
to join her brother C. Q. Stanton, an attorney. She
arrived by stage coach from Albuquerque, NM since the
trains had not yet reached El Paso. |
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In the fall of 1884,
Mary began teaching third grade at Central School which
was located on the corner of Campbell and Myrtle.
At the end of the 1884-1885 school year Mary left El
Paso to further her education at the Central Normal in
Danville, IN. She received a diploma from this school in
Commercial Subjects (Business Administration). In the
fall of 1886, she returned to El Paso and began her
twenty eight year career as a teacher in the public
schools.
In the fall of 1894, Stanton began a reading club which
eventually evolved into the El Paso Public Library. The
club, for high school aged boys, was held in a 4th floor
office of the Sheldon Office Building. The collection
consisted of 6-8 hundred of Stanton's own books. The
club was expanded to include women on June 1, 1895. The
Library Association Board was formed in 1896 to handle
the growing business of the library. Miss Stanton served
as both president and librarian at this time.
As the library grew, Mr. Sheldon gave Mary a larger room
in the building until 1899. Around this time, petitions
were started to have land donated for the building of a
public library. The Sheldon office building became the
Sheldon Hotel and the library was moved to the 2nd floor
of City Hall, Dec 4, 1899. Eventually, with the money
donated by Andrew Carnegie, the El Paso Public Library
had it's own building and opened its doors to the public
on April 25, 1904.
After the library settled into the new building, Stanton
resigned as President of the Library and held office as
the Secretary for many years. In 1929 the City of El
Paso was presented a bronze tablet in Mary Stanton's
honor which reads:
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"In honor of
Mary I Stanton who by the gift of her
library and by her devoted service founded
the El Paso Public Library in 1894" |
In 1925 Mary retired from
teaching and moved to Tularosa, NM. She began her study
of the local flora and fauna. Mary passed away on August
24, 1946 and is buried at Evergreen Alameda.
Laurel Indalecio
Sources:
Stanton, Mary, This is The Brief Outline of My Life
of Eighty Years, Self Published, July 25, 1943.
Daniel, Lula Belle.
History of the El Paso Free Public Library. Self
Published, May 1951.
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