Prince William Public Libraries

The second regional library to be built in Prince William County, Bull Run Library was opened to the public on June 25, 1994. Bull Run Library provided much-needed library services to the rapidly growing western side of the county, which - at the time - had only the small neighborhood library in Haymarket. Together with Chinn Park Library, Bull Run Library was built from funds generated by an $11 million bond referendum approved in 1988.

Bull Run Library reopened in September 2022 after extensive renovations including a new Makerspace; additional Study Room; updated children and young adult areas; New Dedicated Tween Area; open floorplan; and new furniture. Read more about the renovation here.

The 25,000 square-foot building features 30 public computers, a 125-seat Community Room, a Quiet Study Room, and a children's and young adult area. This branch also offers a Contact-Free Pickup, mobile printing, and proctoring services.

Central Library first opened its doors on January 21, 1971. Nearly 50 years later - in November 2020 - the library reopened after extensive renovations and enhancements that represent PWPL’s commitment to bringing quality library services and welcoming space to the community. Walls were broken down to offer more open space for programming and general enjoyment. The improvements include new meeting rooms; a state-of-the-art Makerspace; a quiet study area; a dedicated teen area; redesigned children’s area; RELIC; renovated bathrooms; and more than 2,000 square feet of additional public space.

Although Central Library was the first library to be opened in the area, library service to the residents of Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park was established in July 1952. However, a library bond referendum for the construction of the first permanent building did not take place until November 1967. On February 26, 1968, Roger J. Costello, Mayor of Manassas Park, offered the Library Board a gift from Manassas Park of approximately six acres and $100,000 to build a library between Parkside Elementary/Middle School and Route 28. Central Library opened for business in 1971.

Central Library was officially dedicated on January 30, 1971. The collection of some 30,000 books was moved from the old Prince William Courthouse annex on Lee Avenue in downtown Manassas. The new library was located at 8601 Mathis Avenue on land between the towns of Manassas and Manassas Park, land donated by Manassas Park.

At the same time Central was opened, the Ruth E. Lloyd History Room (also known as the Virginiana Room) was also created. It honored Ruth Emmons Lloyd, a long-time library trustee who had led the Manassas Women’s Club in 1952 in their petition to obtain the first demonstration public library in Virginia, supported by the state library and the county government. Later, RELIC was moved to Bull Run Library, and the collection returned to Central Library in 2020 into a much larger space that incorporates the small room where the collection was first established in 1971.

The 25,000 square-foot building features 30 public computers, a 125-seat Community Room, a Quiet Study Room, and a children's and young adult area. This branch also offers a Contact-Free Pickup, mobile printing, and proctoring services.

This branch also offers U.S. Passport Services, mobile printing, and proctoring services.

Central’s outdoor library space, Central Green, hosts programs focused on hands-on exploration of nature and conservation activities and provides a peaceful space for reading and relaxing.

The first regional library to be built in Prince William County, Chinn Park Library opened on October 26, 1991.

Chinn Park Library was built, together with Bull Run Library, from funds generated by an $11 million bond referendum approved in 1988.

Chinn Park Library was constructed on the old "Camp 6" site, a work detention camp set up by the State Justice System and operational in the 1970s.

The Chinn Regional Park, Chinn Aquatics and Fitness Center, and the Chinn Park Library were named for Mary Jane Chinn and her family for their contributions to the Prince William County community. Mary Jane and Tom Chinn were slaves who, after emancipation, purchased several hundred acres along what were formerly Davis Ford and Telegraph Roads in Woodbridge. They had eight sons. Mary Jane Chinn was born in 1827 and died in 1907. She is buried in the cemetery of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, still located on Telegraph Road in Woodbridge.

Chinn Park Library houses The Management and Government Information Center (MAGIC), a special collection focused on local and state government information and publications. MAGIC has specialized staff and resources to assist members of the community, including local government agencies and area businesses and nonprofits, to start or grow a business, retrieve industry information, seek grant funding, and access laws and regulations.

The 25,000 square-foot library features a dramatic clerestory window and houses PWPL’s Administrative Support Center in its lower level.

There are 21 public access computers with internet, two individual study rooms, quiet Study Room, children’s area, Teen Center, and a 95 seat Community Room with tables and chairs. This branch also offers mobile printing and proctoring services.

Dale City Library was opened on February 11, 1986, and was renovated in 2021.

The 2,475 square-foot library offers a welcoming environment, modern circulation desk, dedicated children’s area, and a collection of about 26,000 items including books, audiobooks, DVDs, magazines, and children’s puzzles. Available to the public are three public computers with internet, fax services, photocopying machine, scanning, and color and black and white printing.

The library’s three flagpoles were donated by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1503. The mural for the children’s area and landscaping for the site were donated by the Dale City Civic Association.

"The library that could not wait to open," Dumfries Library opened its doors to the public one year earlier than planned on June 8, 1985 in the Dumfries Shopping Center. Due to the availability of a leased site, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors switched the opening dates for Dale City and Dumfries libraries. In 2017, the library moved across the street to the Triangle Shopping Plaza, where it remains today.

The 3,840 square-foot library offers a full range of library services: 11 computers with internet for public use, two printers, two study rooms, an art gallery to display community art, an AWE learning station for children, a photocopier/scanner, a fax machine, mobile printing, and a water bottle filling station.

Haymarket Gainesville Library opened on October 22, 2015. Authorized by voters in the 2006 bond referendum, the Haymarket Gainesville Library brought full-scale library services to a fast-growing area previously served only by a small neighborhood library located not far from the new building. While the old building is now a nature preschool center, the new building reflects the surrounding neighborhood's character and history.

Also included next to the library is a 200-year-old historic home, the Bushy Park Historic Home, which was relocated to this land from its previous location on Catharpin Road.

The 22,000 square-foot library features an open floorplan, contemporary media, and spacious areas with natural light provided by the building’s many windows. Visitors to the library can also learn about a composter and enjoy an Eagle Scout Garden and a Pollinator Native Plants Garden built by volunteers from Friends of Gainesville Library and local garden clubs who wanted to connect the rural theme of the library’s interior to nature out of doors.

Haymarket Gainesville Library has a 185-seat Community Room, four study rooms, 21 computers with internet, AWE learning station, children’s section, and dedicated young adult area.

This branch also offers mobile printing, U.S. Passport Services, proctoring services, and one-on-one appointments for technology assistance.

Several times a year, Haymarket Gainesville Library hosts absentee voting for local, state, and federal elections and is the only library branch offering this special service.

The sixth and final neighborhood library opened on May 23, 1987, in the George Hellwig Memorial Park.

The 2,059 square-foot library offers two computer stations with internet, fax, and photocopying services, and free Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is also available in the outside pavilion that is surrounded by pollinator gardens filled with native plants. A one-mile Story Trail is located behind the library and is updated with new tales seasonally.

The first of six neighborhood libraries to open, Lake Ridge Library opened on May 7, 1985. The original facility has had many distinctions throughout its history. On December 26, 1986, a fire in the upper level of the Tackett’s Mill Shopping Center caused significant water damage to the collection and the library’s mural created by a local artist. The library closed for approximately one month and reopened in a second-floor location in the same shopping center. On October 22, 1987, the library returned to its original site with a grand reopening on October 31.

During the budget reductions in the 1990s, the Library Board of Trustees proposed closing Lake Ridge Library. Due to pleas from the community, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors directed the library system to find other cuts in its budget.

On May 6, 1995, Lake Ridge moved to Fairfield Office Park, adjacent to Tackett’s Mill. On April 14, 2012, the library moved back to Tackett’s Mill Shopping Center. Lake Ridge Library has the distinction of being the library that has moved the most.

Today, the 3,300-square-foot library offers materials in print, audio, and digital formats, three computer stations with internet, a catalog station, printing, copier, fax services, and free Wi-Fi.

Manassas City Library is the 12th and newest library. First opened for Curbside Pickup only in February 2021, the library is now open six days a week at Wellington Station Shopping Center in the City of Manassas. A formal ribbon cutting and community event were held on June 7, 2021.

This new location helps bring library services closer to the Manassas City community. The library is within walking distance of several nearby neighborhoods, and its 6,000 square feet provides six public access computers with internet, a photocopier/scanner, a fax machine, two catalog computers, free Wi-Fi, two study/meeting rooms, a children’s area with a children’s computer, and approximately 15,000 books. Proctoring services are not offered at this location.

Authorized by voters in the 2006 bond referendum together with Haymarket Gainesville Library, Montclair Library opened on February 1, 2016.

The 21,000 square-foot full-service library is a LEED-certified building that features an open floorplan, large windows, a fireplace in the reading room, a stone terrace suited for outdoor performances, and partially underground parking. The building has a water theme with aquatic and native species and vegetation and elements like a carpeted “pond” and boat-shaped play area.

The library has a 100-seat Community Room with a large-screen TV for presentations, four group study rooms, a quiet study room, a children’s area, 17 public computers with internet, AWE learning station, and a Gaming Lounge with PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch and several games to choose from. Montclair Library also offers mobile printing and proctoring services.

Next to Montclair Library is a restored 19th-century historic property known as the Barnes House, an important part of the county’s rich African-American heritage.

Nokesville Library is the smallest library with only 1,653 square feet. The library opened on January 11, 1986.

The only neighborhood library located in the "Rural Crescent," Nokesville Library serves not only Prince William County residents but also a significant number of Fauquier County residents.

The library provides materials in print and digital formats and hosts educational and entertaining programs for all ages. Computer stations with internet, a photocopier/scanner machine, and fax service are available to the public.

The library is complemented by a manicured front garden, a small pavilion with picnic tables, and a pollinator garden at the rear of the building where visitors can stroll on a walkway through native plants.

Potomac Library opened on January 25, 1975, about one decade after library service to eastern Prince William County residents began in September 1965 with the opening of the Leesylvania Branch Library located on the first floor of the Prince William County Administration Building located in Gar-Field. In November 1972, a $625,000.00 bond referendum passed, and the Potomac Community Library was built on a site of the Potomac Hospital grounds.

The 18,000 square-foot library offers a 125-seat Community Room, 25 public computers with internet, AWE literacy station, two copiers with scanning capabilities, study tables, and children’s and young adult area. Potomac Library also offers U.S. Passport Services and proctoring services.

Potomac also features an outdoor patio and garden area for individual enjoyment and a setting for outdoor programs and special events.

One of the distinguishing features of the building is its collection of stained glass windows created by artist Jean McKee Dunivin. In 1984, the first window was dedicated in memory of Potomac’s first Children’s Librarian, Mary Flanagan. Additional windows were added in 1989, 1992, and 1993. In 1996, a stained glass window was dedicated in memory of Marion McCoole, past-Potomac Circulation Supervisor.