Borger, the oil-boom town that sprang to life here in 1926, had among its otherwise transient and rowdy early citizenry, a social and professional group of people accustomed to a more refined cultural and literary environment. Such a person was Sadie McBride, society editor for the "Borger Daily Herald" newspaper.
In early 1927 McBride arranged a meeting of several of her women friends to consider an offer by a sales representative of Berle's Twentieth Century Self-Culture Company to subscribe to a monthly book plan. McBride and her friends accepted and later that year organized the Twentieth Century Club of Borger.
The club became a Federated Woman's Club and opened a subscription library on Borger's Main Street in 1928. The Club sponsored fundraising activities, such as the exchange of books for movie tickets and women's basketball contests to augment their library collection.
Club members' efforts to establish a County Library in nearby Stinnett in 1937 resulted in the building of a highly praised native adobe brick Branch Library here by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. The Twentieth Century Club helped open another Branch Library in nearby Fritch in 1967 and continues to be a positive influence in the county's library system.
(1993)