This Month, The Saline County Library is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Bob Herzfeld Memorial Library building. The Bob Herzfeld Memorial Building opened in 2003. In August 1998, Saline County voters approved a .7 percent millage increase and a quarter-cent countywide sales tax increase. Which approved the construction of the building in 2001, but it was officially dedicated as the Bob Herzfeld Memorial in August 2003.
The Saline County Library opened in March of 1931. The Benton Junior Fortnightly Club, a women’s civic club, took on the project of establishing a library for the city of Benton, Arkansas, and the citizens of Saline County. The library was on the second floor of the Walton building on Market Street in downtown Benton. In 1936, the Saline County Library in Benton moved to its second location in a building next to city hall on West South Street, the building.
On Jan. 23, 1967, the Saline County Library moved, for the fourth time, into the old Palace Theater at 224 West South Street. For the next thirty years, the library continued to grow. This building is still active and has turned into a couple of restaurants. The restaurants that reside here now are Baja Grill and Vahallia.