Until November of 1872, there had been three attempts at starting a library in Topeka. Each had been sponsored by men's organizations. The following is an editorial written by a member of the men's military group the Grand Army of the Republic of Topeka Post No. 2. It was printed in the Daily Commonwealth newspaper on November 3, 1870 and describes the desire for such an organization:

     Let us have a place where young men can spend their evenings in reading or social amusements that will tend to improve the mind, and help keep them from saloons and other places of vice.

     Well, the ladies of the town's upper crust who had been discussing starting a subscription library took this as quite a shock. They had heard tales of the wild stag parties at the proposed men's club where the library would be located. They could only imagine the kind of trashy literature with which those young ex-service men would stock their shelves. Only 48 hours after readers read about the above proposed men's Library Association, they read another brief announcement about another library project proposed by some of the ladies in Topeka:

     All ladies interested in forming a "Ladies' Library Association" in this city are requested to meet at the residence of Mrs. T.L. King, corner of 8th and Monroe streets....

    
   The attempts by the G.A.R. Post No. 2 failed, and the Ladies Library Association was officially organized with Mrs. Noah C. McFarland elected President, Mrs. J.M. Spencer as Vice-president, and Mrs. Henry King, wife of the editor of the Kansas State Record, Treasurer.

      A committee was appointed to prepare a constitution and bylaws. This historic meeting took place in a second floor lodge room over the J.W. Davis Dry Goods Store, on the east side of Kansas Avenue, between 7th and 8th streets. At the December 10th meeting, the Commonwealth reported the following:

       The all-important committee charged with the selection and purchase of the association's initial stock of books, was announced....Following four months spent in recruiting members who were assessed $3.00 a year, and pouring over catalogues in view of selecting an initial stock of 150 volumes, "suitable for a ladies' library," the fifty members of the association were notified that their very own library would be opened on Saturday afternoon, March 11, 1871, for three hours, and on Saturday afternoons thereafter, from 3 to 6 p.m.

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