In 1959, two Carbondale school teachers, Dorothea Ike (later Farris) and Patricia Richmond, were lamenting the fact that their students couldn’t do any research after school because the school library was closed and the nearest public library was in Glenwood Springs, too far for the kids to travel.

From Richmond’s journal, “Roaring Fork Valley Recollections 1958-1963”:

As Miss Ike and I talked about the situation, the notion emerged to create a library within Carbondale … In carrying the concept into discussions with neighbors and friends, like Mary Ferguson, Betty deBeque and Dorothy Marshall, the idea of developing a town library began to
take root.

The women organized a grassroots committee and approached Richmond’s husband, Wallace deBeque, who had inherited the large brick building at the corner of Fourth and Main that his grandfather, William Dinkel, built in the late 1800s. They wanted to locate the library in a small storefront in the Dinkel Building, which had become vacant when deBeque moved his Carbondale Light and Power office to a newer building. He initially offered the space at no cost. The Town eventually provided a rental budget for the library, as it wasn’t part of the Garfield County Library system yet.

From Richmond’s “Recollections”:

Conversations about the creation of a town library grew into reality. Townspeople donated time and materials toward transforming the empty building’s interior into a functional library setting. The lumberyard donated boards that became shelving for the dozens of books donated … Residents cleaned, painted and varnished surfaces … Carbondale residents also had provided easy chairs to accommodate readers.

The volunteer library committee had considered various names for the proposed community entity. Some residents argued in favor of one or another of particular local influential citizens. The committee considered that doing so might affect public support for the library, depending upon personal experiences and relationships.

Gordon Cooper, the youngest of the original Mercury astronauts, never resided in Carbondale. However, during an interview he once cited a connection to Carbondale, because his parents had acquired property near the town. With the popularity of the space program and focus on Cooper’s pending flight, the committee designated the new facility as the Gordon Cooper Library.

In 1963, Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., aka “Gordo,” made history for his record 22 solo orbits around the Earth in the last Mercury spacecraft: Faith 7. In news articles, Cooper was said to be from Carbondale, but it was actually his mother, Hattie Cooper, who lived on a ranch near town. Still, Gordo was a frequent visitor to the area and considered Carbondale his adopted hometown, even joining the local Freemason Lodge 82.

From Richmond’s memoir, concerning Cooper’s 1963 space flight:

The radio station in Glenwood Springs had conveyed reports about Cooper’s earth orbits. When the station broadcasted the latest update about the space capsule’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, Carbondale and other Roaring Fork Valley residents congregated along Carbondale’s Main Street. Carbondale’s and Basalt’s marching band members stood ready to lead a parade when the news came of Cooper’s module splashing down successfully. As the bands moved forward upon the signal, decorated bicycles, cars and other vehicles followed along Carbondale’s Main Street, past the building with the words “Gordon Cooper Library” painted upon the front window.

In 1984, a new library building was erected at 76 South 4th St. Its official dedication on Sept. 29 coincided with the 75th annual Potato Day celebration. Retired astronaut Gordon Cooper was the grand marshal in the parade, and cut the ribbon alongside Mayor Bill Gray at the library’s dedication.

The Valley Journal, Oct. 4, 1984:

Nearly 100 people gathered outside the soon-to-be completed Gordon Cooper Library last Saturday, to hear dedication speeches and comments from a variety of local luminaries and former astronaut Gordon Cooper …

Cooper, namesake of the library, is the son of local resident Hattie Cooper … [whose] family … bought a ranch in the Frying Pan area in 1929. He said he spent countless summers in this area long before he thought of being a spaceman …

Noting that his mother moved to Carbondale in 1954, Cooper said he has spent “all my spare time visiting her as much as possible, frequently on holidays.”

Hattie Cooper died in 1991 and is buried alongside her husband, Leroy Gordon Cooper Sr., in Carbondale’s White Hill Cemetery. Gordon Cooper passed in 2004 and his ashes were launched into space.

In 2013, the library moved from the 3,600-square-foot building on 4th St. to a new 13,000-square-foot building at 320 Sopris Avenue. The facility, now part of Garfield County Public Library District (GCPLD), goes by the name of the Carbondale Branch Library. But the town’s historical connection to the space race was retained when Carbondale Arts moved their headquarters into the old library building and named it The Launchpad.

Carbondale Library Branch Manager Tracy Kallassy still has the old 4th St. Gordon Cooper Library sign in her office, along with the astronaut’s flight suit.

Author’s note: Many thanks to 89-year-old Patricia Joy Richmond for the gift of her journal to the Carbondale Historical Society in 2026.