Bexley Public Library was established in 1924 as a school district library serving the Bexley Public School District. The library began in a room of Bexley High School, now Montrose Elementary, and relocated to its present location, 2411 East Main Street, in 1929. Branch libraries were maintained by the library in all Bexley public school buildings from 1924-1971. This collection of historic photos, documents, scrapbooks, and oral histories was developed in celebration of the library's centennial in 2024.

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A collection of historic photographs and other ephemera chronicling the history of businesses and restaurants in Bexley.

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The celebration of Independence Day in Bexley was first hosted by the newly created Bexley Celebrations Association in 1948. Another patriotic celebration, Flag Day, started in 1953, was responsible for the inauguration of the city's first patriotic parade. This collection documents the patriotic celebrations of Bexley, Ohio.

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A collection of The Torch, the student newspaper of Bexley High School. The first edition of The Torch was published October 9, 1925.

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Explore the history of the Bexley City Schools through historic photographs, newsletters, and documents. Collected to commemorate the centennial of Bexley’s first high school, now Montrose Elementary School, this collection includes material documenting Maryland and Cassingham Elementaries, the middle and high schools as well as early township schools in what is now Bexley. This collection is presented through a partnership between the Bexley Historical Society, Bexley City Schools, and Bexley Public Library.

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Discovered in an attic at Cassingham Elementary School, this collection of Stereographs was created in 1934 by the Keystone View Company of Cleveland, Ohio. A stereograph is made of two nearly identical photos placed side-by-side, that when viewed through a stereoscope, creates a three dimensional image. Although digitally they do not provide a 3-D experience, the images provide a glimpse into the Bexley City Schools during the 1930s. This collection is presented through a partnership between the Bexley Historical Society and Bexley Public Library.

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The first of Bexley Public Library's digital collections this collection of Bexley High School yearbooks, 1923-2005, was created in partnership with the Bexley City School District, the Bexley High School Alumni Association, and Columbus Metropolitan Library with funding from a 2013 Bexley Community Foundation grant. Additional yearbooks will be added ten years after the date of publication.

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Abstracts of Title were once required to ensure against any encumbrances on a piece of property, guaranteeing a clean title. They document all transactions relevant to the property dating back to the 1801 subdivision of the Congress Lands into the Refugee Tract, within which the City of Bexley is located. By the mid 1970s such abstracts were being replaced by title insurance. Homeowners were no longer required to update the abstract when selling their property, and many were discarded. Today they provide a glimpse into the past providing information on who owned a piece of land including the names of the refugees, displaced from Canada during the Revolutionary War, who received grants to the land as compensation for their loss of property in Canada, due to their support of the colonies. The abstracts show how these land grants, through property transactions, were developed into farms, and later the neighborhoods of today. If you have an abstract for a property in Bexley and would like to loan it to Bexley Public Library for digitization and inclusion in this collection please email localhistory@bexleylibrary.org.

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Explore the houses of Bexley, Ohio that were purchased as kits from a Sears, Roebuck & Company catalog. See photographs of nine such homes discovered by researchers from the Bexley Historical Society and Bexley Public Library and learn about their features. Do you think you live in a kit home from Sears or another manufacturer? Let us know so we can add it to the collection.

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Since March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, a pandemic, our community has been responding. From closing schools, libraries, and businesses to changing the ways we gather, learn, and worship, our lives have been turned upside down. This collection of photos, documenting history as it happens, represents a range of experiences, including hometown hero Dr. Amy Acton and the Black Lives Matter movement, all in the midst of a pandemic. Browse the collection and consider adding your photos to the archive.

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