Planning for the Mary Dickerson Memorial Library began within a year after the Allensworth School opened.  Col. Allensworth organized their first planning meeting in the autumn of 1911 at the Allensworth School with the Colony's citizens and Miss Jennie Hermann, the County Librarian.  The Colony's request for a branch library was probably one of the county's first following the California Legislature's passage of the County Library Act.  This Act made it possible for the Tulare Free Library to service rural areas.

The Tulare Free Library instituted two types of rural service; the book station and the reading room.  To qualify for a book station, a community minimally had to provide a bookshelf.  Qualification for a reading room required an area with a table, two chairs and a shelf.  Funds for a part-time reading room custodian were provided to communities that established a reading room.

Allensworth maintained a book shelf in the school until 1213.  On July 4, 1913, a reading room opened in a separate library building which formerly housed the Allensworth Elementary School.  The 365 square foot former school building was built in 1911 by the residents with lumber donated by the developer, Pacific Farming Company.  It was moved to a 50x150 town lot made available by Mrs. Josephine Allensworth to house for the reading.

Josephine Allensworth spearheaded the movement for the expansion of the Colony's library services to a reading room.  Renovations to accommodate the new use were made on the small one room building by Abraham Stockett, a local carpenter.   Shelves to hold 1,000 books were installed.  A small stove provided the heat and the lighting came from Elaine oil fueled lamps.  The library's holdings including a monthly allotment from the county and there were also books donated by private citizens from throughout the state.

The facility, named for Mrs. Allensworth's mother was known in Allensworth as the Mary Dickerson Memorial Library, although its official name was the Allensworth Branch of the Tulare County Free Library.

The Mary Dickerson Memorial Library operated continuously at its original site until 1943.  The current building was built on the site of the original from photographs and descriptions given by Allensworth pioneers.  The Library is now opened on request and is stocked with books on black history and the history of Allensworth.

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