The Stahr Children’s Room is the heart of the Central Library. It’s where hundreds of kids attend storytime each week, where families gather, crafts are created, children read stories to dogs — and where the love of reading begins. It’s also where Elizabeth Stahr found incredible joy, seeing firsthand the results of years of her hard work.

Along with her husband John, Elizabeth Stahr was a key player in the creation of the Central Library. It was Elizabeth and John Stahr who initiated a capital campaign that helped get the project off the ground, and Elizabeth and John Stahr who saw the project through.

Completed in 1994, the Central Library became what the Stahrs had envisioned – a place to enrich lives, and as Elizabeth had hoped, the heart of the community.

“Elizabeth Stahr’s vision was an enormous contribution to the city of Newport Beach in 1994 and is even stronger today,” says Melissa Hartson, Library Services Director. “We’re incredibly grateful for Elizabeth’s perseverance, leadership, generosity, and commitment to the Newport Beach Public Library. Her legacy will live on for decades to come.” 

Elizabeth Stahr believed in the power of books and libraries to change lives, and we’re all better off for it.

(Pictured l-r: Lucille Kuehn, Jack Dwan, Lizanne Witte, Dave Carmichael, Barbara Glabman, John Stahr, Elizabeth Stahr)