Our New Library is Huge!

Mission Statement and History

Thorne Bay Public Library acts as a source of information, entertainment, intellectual development, and enrichment for the community of Thorne Bay by providing free access to books, movies, internet access, and other library materials and programming to all individuals and groups in the community.

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The City of Thorne Bay was incorporated on August 2, 1982. It is located on the eastern side of Prince of Wales Island in the Alaskan Panhandle. Thorne Bay still holds the record as the world’s largest logging camp, which began in 1960 as a camp for the Ketchikan Pulp Company, and at its largest in the 1960's held over 1500 people. The population of the city started a steep decline after the logging company pulled out of the area in 1999, and now there are just over 500 people living in the city.

Also in 1999, a Library/Museum committee was formed. They found a building, and the first Thorne Bay Public Library was opened in 2001. (Before then, residents would order books by mail from the State Library in Juneau.)  Unfortunately the building had a leaky roof and was located in the middle of a road right-of-way, so a new location had to be found. In 2005 the old Naukiti school building was donated to temporarily house the library. The single wide trailer was moved next to city hall where it still remains.