Photo: Hot Furnace · CC BY-SA 4.0Fredericksburg’s library runs 7.1 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Pioneer Memorial Library serves 26,960 people in and around Fredericksburg. Last year it lent 341K books, movies and e-books and logged 72K visits.
What Fredericksburg’s library is like
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 78% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 22%. What people borrow ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Fredericksburg Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1971. Today’s library there has 10,170 square feet. The building ↓
Programs are almost all for children
83% of the 192 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Pioneer Memorial Library spends $14 per resident, less than 90% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Pioneer Memorial Library serves 26,960 people in and around Fredericksburg, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fredericksburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fredericksburg is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #125 of 539 in Texas. Fredericksburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Fredericksburg’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
80 community nonprofits are registered in Fredericksburg
7.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (20 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.3%
5.3% of Fredericksburg’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Fredericksburg’s residents live; 2022.
78% of borrowing is digital
341K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
267,022 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Pioneer Memorial Library serves 26,960 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 151 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pioneer Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
A National Register landmark since 1971
Pioneer Memorial Library, 115 W Main St., Fredericksburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pioneer Memorial Library branch.
New in Fredericksburg? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Fredericksburg Memorial Library
Fredericksburg Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 11, 1971. It is significant for its architecture at the state level.
The Pioneer Memorial Library is located at 115 W. Main Street, Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. Designed by Alfred Giles, it was built in 1882 to replace the original 1855 courthouse, and was later superseded by the current 1939 courthouse designed by Edward Stein.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $14.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fredericksburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $369K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $369K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 9,027 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Pioneer Memorial Library serves 26,960 people in and around Fredericksburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fredericksburg.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Fredericksburg
Does Fredericksburg have a public library?
Yes. Pioneer Memorial Library, 115 W Main St., serves 26,960 people in and around Fredericksburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pioneer Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Fredericksburg’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 12.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Fredericksburg’s civic life grade?
B− Fredericksburg is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #125 of 539 in Texas. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Fredericksburg.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.