About the Library

The Mary Gilkey Library is just under 1400 square feet and houses a collection of popular adult fiction and non-fiction books, books for young adults and kids of all ages. In addition, we also have audio books on CD and DVD movies.

In addition to our free WiFi, we also have computers available for internet use.   To sign up to use the internet computers you will need your library card or picture ID. No password is required to use our WiFi. Black and white printing is available for $0.25 per page. Neither the library nor City Hall have fax services for public use. 

We apologize, but due to our limited space, we are unable to accept donations of books and other materials at this time. Please consider donating to the Friends of the McMinnville Library, or to the Little Free Libraries scattered throughout our town. 

Library History
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Mary Gilkey

The Dayton Public Library, also known as the "Mary Gilkey City Library" was founded in 1923.

 

The library was first housed at the Methodist Church, which is now known as the Pioneer Evangelical Church.  When the library opened there were more than 1000 volumes on the shelves! The library was moved to City Hall in June of 1935. In 1996, the old Fire Hall bays adjacent to the City Hall were remodeled and the Library was moved out of City Hall to the space it currently occupies.

 

The library was named at a dedicatory service for Mary Ann Robinson Gilkey, who was the first girl child born in Yamhill County of pioneers.

 

Mary Ann Robinson was born March 7, 1846 on her fathers's land claim in the Webfoot district. She passed away February 21, 1931 at the age of 84.  She attended Willamette University, where she graduated in 1866.  She taught school for 14 years and was married in 1880 to William Gilkey.

 

It is rumored that Mary Gilkey donated the land that City Hall now sits on with the condition that a Public Library would always be open to the people of Dayton.

Dayton's Library Director, Cyndi Park, joined our staff in 2018. She received her Master of Library and Information Science from San José State University, her Master of Education in Counseling and Human Relations from Northern Arizona University, and her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Arizona State University. Cyndi is a member of the Oregon Library Association, the American Library Association, the Young Adult Library Services Association, and the Association for Small and Rural Libraries.