Dare County, North Carolina, Jeep Bookmobile

UPDATE: This was originally posted June 18, 2020:

1953-03-dare-county-nc-jeep-bookmobile-truck4-lores — . The jeep was painted green.

April 1954, Dane County, North Carolina: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll36/id/336

1953-03-dare-county-nc-jeep-bookmobile-truck1-lores

March 1950, Dane County, North Carolina: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll36/id/331

An April 15, 1948, newspaper article in the Winona Republican (Winona, Minnesota) claimed that there were roughly 377 bookmobiles traveling the United States, out of which only one was a jeep.

Two years later, by 1950, the jeep was proving more popular for use as a bookmobile, because it could access rural areas more easily than other vehicles. I doubt there are any records on how many jeeps were used as bookmobiles, but at least one appeared in multiple photos and articles: The Dare County Jeep Bookmobile.

Dare County purchased it's first jeep in 1950, hence all the photos and news articles on this post. According to the library's history page: "After the war, the library continued to grow. In 1950, the first bookmobile was purchased – a green Willys Jeep converted for this purpose began making regularly scheduled runs. As there were then no bridges from the mainland or to the Outer Banks, all trips involved ferries. Georgia Harwood retired in 1956, succeeded by Jean Turner Ward, who served as librarian for the next fifteen years."

This full page article with photos was published in North Carolina's News and Observer on April 23, 1950. It appears the new jeep bookmobile had just been put into service.

1950-04-23-news-and-observer-nc-bookmobile1-lores

Clipping from The News and Observer - Newspapers.com

This next article, which predates the above article by 13 days, was published in North Carolina's News and Observer on April 23, 1950.

Dare County's digital archives provided additional photos:

1953-03-dare-county-nc-jeep-bookmobile-truck5-lores

https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll36/id/311

1953-03-dare-county-nc-jeep-bookmobile-truck2-lores

https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll36/id/308

1953-03-dare-county-nc-jeep-bookmobile-truck3-lores

https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll36/id/329

https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll36/id/309

9 Comments

ChrisJune 18, 2020 at 12:15 PM
Dare County, NC is comprised mostly on the Outer Banks, a narrow strip of barrier islands (including where the Wright Brothers flew their gliders and later powered airplane). Paved roads were few and far between, so the off road capability made the Jeep vehicles a natural choice.
GalenJune 18, 2020 at 12:34 PM
As a great fan of books & literature, I think this is my favorite post in quite some time! Love the history, and although I've never been tempted by a wagon restoration, this would be the exact one I would do if I had the chance. Great post & thanks for the history lesson!
Dave CJune 18, 2020 at 1:28 PM
I agree, Galen, this wold be a cool recreation. I don't know a lot about the aftermarket utility bed manufacturers, and I wonder who made the bed / library unit. Can't imagine that would be a one-off design. Does anyone recognize the manufacturer? Dave C
David EilersJune 18, 2020 at 2:35 PM
I wondered who manufactured these library cabinets as well. Though I've yet to find other pics as good as the ones for this post, there are plenty of other jeep book mobile articles from Tennessee, Alabama, and other areas. So, it's possible that the manufacturer of this also manufactured others. Like hunting for jeep-barn-finds, trying to locate interesting, unpublished jeep stories and content has become a challenge! As a book reader and writer, running across this story was fun for me, too.
Dan B.June 18, 2020 at 4:04 PM
Awesome post. Thanks, Dave!
GlennstinJune 18, 2020 at 10:59 PM
The AACA Bookmobile at Hershey is all restored and used in many displays. It would yield info as to sources. It's been written up several times.
Dave CJune 18, 2020 at 11:51 PM
The bookmobile bed on the Willys truck looks to be made by the same manufacturer as the AACA bookmobile, Rock Hill Body in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Here are the links to the AACA restoration, video, and info on Rock Hill Body. https://www.rkmotors.com/blog/AACA-bookmobile-restoration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeiFQzSawGM&feature=youtu.be http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/r/rock_hill/rock_hill.htm
1. David EilersJune 19, 2020 at 1:26 AM
  Good find Dave C. That makes a lot of sense.
Rich HJune 18, 2020 at 11:55 PM
Dare County. I remember it well. There was a road, Stumpy Point Road.