Lane Public Library / Clark Lane

Clark Lane built this library in 1866 and donated it to the people of Hamilton two years later. The 1913 Great Miami River flood catastrophe damaged much of the building and many of its books and records. The refurbished library reopened in 1914 and was dedicated as the “Lane Public Library.” A fire five years later did considerable damage but library leaders responded in the years following by enlarging the building, establishing community outreach locations and, in 1938, offered a bookmobile service to rural areas. After World War II, the library expanded into a system that, as of 2015, served over 187,000 people in western Butler County with libraries in Hamilton, Fairfield and Oxford, the Smith Library of Regional History, the bookmobile, and a community technology center.

Side B

Clark Lane (1823-1907), industrialist and philanthropist, was a son of John Lane (1793-1880) and Rosanah Crum (1795-1877). John came with his family to the Ohio Country when it was still part of the Northwest Territory. As a young man, Clark worked in his family’s blacksmith shop, and eventually helped found Owens, Lane and Dyer Machine Company in 1854. It built agricultural machinery, sawmills, papermaking machines, and other products, initiating Hamilton’s prominence in metals manufacturing. Lane funded the Butler County Children’s Home, an orphanage for over a century, and constructed an octagon house as his residence on Third Street. He built this library in 1866, also as an octagon, and donated it to the people of Hamilton. A 19th century admirer wrote, “The name and generous deeds of Clark Lane will never fade from the memories of a grateful people who have been recipients of his favor.”