(Note: The following was written by one of the “Urban Legends” program presenters from the Bookmobile Department. Therefore the contents may, or may not, actually be true.)

The Present Era:

The first Topeka Public Library Bookmobile was a converted house trailer pulled by a Chevy Coupe. It began service on March 15, 1943. Because this was during World War II, most of the vehicle space was taken up by the built-in bomb shelter - and because at this time the war wasn’t going so well, most of the few books there was room for were in German. A second unit was added in 1947 - which was originally planned to house books written in Japanese - but since we won the war both units were switched to strictly English books.

By 1951 both of these units were replaced by two retired city buses, affectionately known as Ben and Betsy. It wasn’t easy talking Ben and Betsy into coming out of retirement, but they each eventually signed six-year contracts. When they did retire (in 1958) they were replaced with three factory-built Gerstenslager bookmobiles - part of the European reconstruction policy after World War II. The Soviets got Poland but we got three Gerstenslagers.

In 1973 the Bookmobile Department added a recycled postal truck, called the book buggy, to the fleet. It was replaced with a new model in 1975 and again in 1979. Eventually the postal book buggy was retired because too many books were being delivered to the wrong address - plus something about the vehicles were causing the drivers to go “postal”. Three patrons were shot in the final year of operation.

In 1974 the “Orange” bookmobile was purchased. And because colors love company, the following year the “Green” bookmobile was purchased as well (both were Gerstenslagers) followed in 1992 by the “White” bookmobile. But because orange, white, and green are the colors of the Irish flag - copyright issues arose. Something about only being able to use the units on St. Patrick’s day. So the Orange and the Green bookmobiles were replaced in 1992 by the Lingo bookmobile (originally called the Lingo Starr - but there was that copyright thing again) and the Bluebird bookmobile. Meanwhile the White bookmobile, which would now be used almost exclusively for catering to children, was renamed the “Adventuremobile”.

The Library purchased the Bluebird in 1995 while the Lingo was essentially a gift (from Bob and Hazel). So along with the Adventuremobile, as far as the present bookmobile situation, we have: “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready - to hit the road!”