I've always thought this was a very interesting view when you first come into the main door of the library. If you look to your right, you see the doorway leading into the Young Adult area, the Yambert Family Reading Room, and the Lester Pfister History and Genealogical area. And you see a portrait in the distance. According to the book, El Paso, Illinois Pictorial History 150 Years 1854-2004, by the El Paso Sesquicentennial Book Committee, that portrait was painted by a local El Paso resident named Sarah Arnold. She painted it in the spring of 1907 and presented it to the library in June of that year. And surprisingly, Mr. Carnegie sent Sarah a letter complimenting her on the painting. The painting was restored before the grand opening of our new addition in 2014. There is an exhibit about Sarah Arnold in the history room area near the portrait, with a scrapbook.
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