Although library service in Apex dated back to the 1940's (as a volunteer operation under the leadership of Raleigh's Richard B. Harrison Library for the African-American community, the town's white population was not served until the early 1960's, when the Apex Woman's Club began a small volunteer library of their own.
The Woman's Club library of a few hundred books bounced from location to location over the succeeding years, until late 1964, when the club finally ceased operating the facility due to lack of volunteers. Representatives of the woman's club approached the town board in February of 1965, and at that meeting, the idle Apex Union Depot was suggested as an ideal location.
However, Seaboard Railroad officials told the town that they planned to put the depot back into service, so the town leased a building belonging to the Apex Methodist Church; this location was objected to strongly by the town's African-American population. After several moves, the town finally obtained a storefront at 131 N. Salem Street, and community volunteers prepared the one room facility for use.
The Apex Community Library, the first official branch library of the Oliva H. Raney Public Library in Raleigh, opened on 10 January 1966, under the direction of Librarian Rachel Lewter. During the succeeding several years, the library, numbering several thousand volumes, was a source of pride for the citizens of Apex, many of whom donated books or other materials to the library, either directly or through civic groups.
(1966 through 1995 -- to be added)
In December of 1995, the Apex Community Library in downtown Apex officially closed. It's collection became part of its successor, the Eva H. Perry Regional Library, built at the northern edge of Apex near Cary. The Eva Perry Library rapidly became the busiest public library in North Carolina, circulating over one million books annually by the year 2000.