Gladys Haggard Bishop Harrington: Pioneer of Plano's Public Library and Civic Leader (1901–2004)

Gladys Haggard Bishop Harrington, Plano civic leader, was born in Paris, Texas, on May 29, 1901, to Nannie Elizabeth (Haggard) Bishop, the daughter of early Plano settler Clinton Shepherd Haggard, and Thomas C. Bishop. She moved to Plano with her mother, sister Mary Elizabeth, and brother Clinton Conner after the death of her father in 1912 to be closer to relatives. Gladys Bishop married Fredrick Joseph Harrington on October 8, 1919, shortly after graduating from Plano High School. The couple lived on a farm located northeast of present-day Parker and Preston roads in Plano until the death of Fred Harrington in 1948. Gladys Harrington became one of the first female licensed drivers in Collin County after learning to drive the family’s DeSoto automobile to attend church and club meetings in Plano. She made do with one summer dress and one winter dress throughout the Great Depression. Harrington moved into town in the early 1950s and designed her house on Avenue H near downtown Plano. About that time she began traveling widely and eventually visited every continent except Africa and Antarctica.

Though she never attended college, Harrington is credited with creating the first public library to serve Plano and the surrounding communities. She became president of the Plano Federation of Church Women in 1953 and, with $60 and ninety-seven books, led the group in organizing a community free reading service. The federation ceased to exist in 1955, and Harrington spent the next several years working to sustain the book service and advocating the establishment of a permanent library in Plano. She persuaded individuals and groups to donate books, building space, and lumber; to build shelves; and to act as librarians for the start-up institution. Harrington taught herself the basics of library science and how to submit grant applications for funding. The city of Plano assumed financial responsibility of the library in 1965. On June 2, 1969, after a successful bond election, the city of Plano opened its first library building. It was appropriately named the Gladys Harrington Public Library. Harrington continued in her role as an education and literacy advocate throughout her life. She was a frequent visitor to area public school classrooms, where she encouraged children to explore the world through books. Harrington told hundreds of school children that they would never be lonely if they learned to read. In 2003 she was awarded an honorary associate of arts degree and named the first Living Legends recipient by the Collin County Community College District in recognition of her work launching the library.

Harrington was an active supporter of the Republican party in Texas. Each election year during her more than thirty years as a Republican precinct chair, she personally visited every registered voter in Collin County’s Precinct 23. Her son Fred Conner Harington was a founder of the Collin County Republican Men’s Club and briefly served as mayor of Plano before his death in 1970. The following year Harrington organized a Collin County Republican women’s club, named the Conner Harrington Republican Women’s Club in her son’s honor. She served as president of the club and was also president of the Plano Republican Women’s Club. Harrington was also an active member of Plano’s First Christian Church, where she served as a deaconess and Sunday school teacher.

Harrington was a founding board member of the Plano Symphony Orchestra Association and an underwriter of the orchestra’s Collin County Young Artist Competition. She was a founding member of the Plano Heritage Association and the Thompson Book Review Club. She was active in the Plano Chamber of Commerce, the Fine Arts League of Plano, the Plano chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She was also an honorary member of the Collin County Genealogical Society, the Plano Jaycee-ettes, and Beta Sigma Phi. Gladys Harrington’s eight decades of civic activism in Plano ended on June 27, 2004, with her death at the age of 103. She was preceded in death by her two sons, Conner and Joseph Hunter Harrington. She was interred at Plano Mutual Cemetery.