Cozby Library and Community Commons

The story of Coppell's library began in 1974 when Bob Hefner, a former city councilman, started a movement to establish the Coppell library. He said, "Every town uses one. Coppell must have one." The original library, housed in less than 1,000 square feet, opened in 1974 with a donation of 3,000 books from Hefner's private collection. With the help of volunteers and book donations from Coppell youngsters and surrounding libraries, such as Carrollton and Lewisville, the book stock consisted of 8,870 books at the end of May 1979.

As the city grew, the library outgrew the small house. New plans were developed and a new library was included as part of a bond election that also funded the current city hall. In December 1986, the Coppell library opened in a new location with a new name, the William T. Cozby Public Library. The name was chosen in honor of the second mayor of Coppell, Mr. William Trindle Cozby, who was instrumental in the development of the city. The library was placed on the second floor of the new Coppell Town Center at 255 Parkway Blvd. The new 5,890 square foot facility was much larger than the former site.

Coppell decided it wanted a larger, freestanding library in March of 1990. That year, voters passed a bond election to build a new 28,000 square-foot library. In 1993, Coppell began to move forward with construction of the new library on Heartz Road. Checkouts and renewals increased to over 136,000 items. The new 28,000 square foot library was opened at its present location, 177 N Heartz Road, on April 24, 1995. New features added at this facility included: a large meeting room which could be divided into three smaller meeting rooms, two public conference rooms, two individual study rooms, a separate children's programming room for preschool programs, and a separate adult reading room with current periodicals. Additionally, there was an archival room to house old newspapers, microfilms, and older periodicals. Study desks lined a wall of windows overlooking a scenic pond surrounded by grassy slopes.

In 2015, the library underwent a huge renovation, during which time staff was temporarily housed at the old fire administration building at 500 Southwestern Blvd. In October of 2016, staff were able to move back to the new 34,000 sq ft renovated building. The name was also changed to Cozby Library and Community Commons to honor the past while looking to the needs of the community. Approximately 510,000 items are checked out each year.