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RANCHO MIRAGE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Twenty Years of Outstanding Library Service and a Dynamic Future
During the earliest years of Rancho Mirage as a City, library service was provided by
the Riverside County Library System via a bi-weekly visit by a book mobile. By 1988
there was local interest in having our own independent library. The County Library
would not commit to a library in Rancho Mirage, despite considerable property tax
generated locally.
On January 1, 1991, the City Council withdrew from the Riverside County system.
Until 1996, Rancho Mirage residents had library privileges by contract at the Palm
Springs Library.
A Library Planning Committee first met in November 1993, to develop the Rancho
Mirage Public Library, owned and operated by the City. Planning involved a library
building at a civic center, to be located on the site of what is now “The River.” That
idea was defeated in a special election held in April 1994.
Attention shifted to the conversion of the vacant Bank of America building in the
Rancho Las Palmas Shopping Center on Highway 111. This project moved swiftly
and the first Rancho Mirage Public Library was dedicated by Former President Gerald
Ford on January 7, 1996. The opening was a great success with some 3000 in
attendance that day. That Library success continued with remarkable public support,
an enthusiastic City Council, and excellent management by the City’s first Library
Director, Tom Johnson.
The Rancho Mirage Public Library has been an award-winner since 1996, in the
top echelon of public libraries in the state which serve similar sized cities. By 2002
it became evident that heavy use and popular demand required the City to build a
larger library with the full support by the City Council.
Presented by the Rancho Mirage Public Library Foundation