2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 67
Commending the Smithfield branch of the Blackwater Regional Library.
Agreed to by the Senate, February 26, 2026
WHEREAS, the Smithfield branch of the Blackwater Regional Library, known for decades as the Benjamin P. Chapman Memorial Library, celebrated its 100th anniversary on January 10, 2026; and
WHEREAS, the origins of the Smithfield branch of the Blackwater Regional Library date to April 1924, when Smithfield's Shakespeare Class and Woman's Club secured funding from the Smithfield Town Council for a library; and
WHEREAS, the Smithfield branch of the Blackwater Regional Library's first iteration opened on January 26, 1925, in what is today the old Town Hall on Institute Street with a collection of 100 books, including an autographed book of poems given by Richmond poet Nellie Parker Henson; and
WHEREAS, upon her death in 1945, Cora Leigh Chapman donated her home on South Church Street to serve as Smithfield's local library, which became thereafter known as the Benjamin P. Chapman Memorial Library; and
WHEREAS, in 1974, the Smithfield library became part of the Walter Cecil Rawls regional library system, later known as the Blackwater Regional Library, with Mildred Moreland serving as its first official librarian; and
WHEREAS, the Smithfield branch of the Blackwater Regional Library relocated for the last time in 1989 when it occupied the former Smithfield High School at 255 James Street, where it has served the community ever since; and