(MURFREESBORO) Saturday was a rainy day, and the Woman's Club of Murfreesboro offered an indoor adventure at Murfreesboro Fire Rescue's station four on Medical Center Parkway. From toddlers to teens enjoyed the free cookies, story telling, safety seat inspection and firetrucks.

Mayor Shane McFarland was one of the readers at the 10:00AM-1:00PM event. Staff from Barnes and Noble along with WGNS' Bart Walker also shared a book.

Walker said. "A group of Eagle bound Boy Scouts came by and we had a ball sharing a new book from Barnes and Noble that was filled with little known facts about each president of the United States. Such things as one had a pet alligator as a child, another had a cow on the White House lawn, one saw a UFO, and other unique happenings"

Saturday's event was a part of the Woman's Clubs partnership with area fire and police departments to give their first responders books to give to children who are involved in a traumatic incident. It's a logical progression, since the Woman's Club was Murfreesboro's first library.

The Woman's Club began in 1887 with 12 ladies who possessed a love of reading and literacy. Each lady donated one book, and books were housed on the counters of a local drug store. By 1911, several members of the original reading group organized The Murfreesboro Library Association, and by 1916 had over 2,000 books and periodicals, moving its collection from location to location. The Library Association needed a permanent home for its collection, and the founding members of The Woman's Club of Murfreesboro located its present home at 221 East College, raised the funds to purchase it, and purchased the building in 1916.

In fact, books owned by the Library Association were moved to their new home in The Woman's Club Library in 1916, and became the first public lending library in Rutherford County. The Woman's Club Library operated the only public lending library from 1916 until 1948, when Linebaugh Public Library was formed.

The library at the Woman's Club remains a viable library for members and others in the community needing access to its volumes of rare, first edition, and out of print books for resource and research availability. The Woman's Club of Murfreesboro was incorporated in 1916; celebrated its 100th anniversary on July 22, 2016; and was designated as a 501(c)(3) Public Charity in 2016.

The Woman's Club continues to offer community outreach programs involving literacy opportunities for some of the most under-served segments of our local community. To learn more about the Woman's Club, visit their website www.WomansClubMurfreesboro.org.