The Chippewa Falls Public Library Endowment Fund was established because of the long history of community support for the library.

The Chippewa Falls Public Library has been an integral part of the community since 1894. In 1903, a new city library opened thanks to $20,000 donated by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. Public support has always been a crucial part of the library's success. That continues well over a century later with the Chippewa Falls Public Endowment Fund.

In 1926, Judge Roujet De Lisle Marshall had a vision of how others could benefit as he had from reading books. He appreciated the value of the public library as an institution of lifelong learning and the value of libraries as essential institutions in our democratic society. In his will, Judge Marshall bequeathed $25,000 to the city to be used for library purposes. This gift provided the bulk of the "seed" money for the establishment of the Chippewa Falls Public Endowment Fund.

The Chippewa Falls Public Endowment Fund holdings will be used to find new ways for people to use emerging technologies, build collections of materials that will enrich the lives of our users, and for the public to actively engage with the library both within the building and out in the community. Eventually, the hope is to expand the library building thereby creating new and more vibrant space for people to use in a variety of ways.