Libraries
Chagrin Falls residents have always supported libraries and reading rooms. In the 1840s Township Hall housed books from the Mechanics Association and Aristarchus Champion as a lending library. Some fraternal lodges and stores had their own lending libraries.
The efforts of Mrs. Pelton who went door to door asking for donations of a dollar or a book enabled her to establish a public library. With help from the Cleveland Public Library, the Chagrin Memorial Library Society was incorporated in 1921. Money was raised through the sale of shares of stock, minstrel shows, bazaars and bake sales. In 1924 the library became the first branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library System. The library was located in various buildings around town.
In 1959 the library moved into its own building on E. Orange St. after a successful fundraising campaign. This building has been enlarged several times and continues to be a busy library and center of community activities.