M.T. Allen Memorial Library: A Fitting Tribute for a Grand Lady

It’s an interesting and exciting time to live in Peachtree City. The city is still young as far as municipalities go, but we now have enough history (67 years) to see a legacy start to take shape in the rearview mirror. You’re seeing the results of that now.

On August 6, 2026, the City Council of Peachtree City approved the renaming of Peachtree City Library to the M.T. Allen Memorial Library. The name change went live in the PINES catalog this past weekend. (It was a surprise to us too, but a happy one!)

I was fortunate enough to work with M.T. for the first nine years of my employment with the city. She was both a mentor and a friend. No one can deny M.T. deserves this incredible honor, and I’m grateful to be here to witness it. It’s a full-circle moment for me, personally. When M.T. celebrated her twentieth year with the city in 1999, I remember thinking there was no way I’d be here that long. (Ah-hem: In November, I’ll have been here twenty-eight years—the same length as M.T.’s tenure.)

The City of Peachtree City began humbly, with just a handful of families choosing to put down roots in this untested “new town” in rural Fayette County. Many of the city’s early services were volunteer-led, including the library. Although the library opened as a room in the old Municipal Building in 1974, it didn’t become a publicly funded city department until 1976.

Jennie Pyron was the first librarian (1974-1976). Willard Bryant succeeded Pyron, and it was under Bryant that M.T. Allen became a library volunteer. She was hired as a part-time employee in 1979 and a short time later Bryant decided to retire, making M.T. the full-time head librarian.

M.T. is legendary to anyone who goes back more than twenty years in Peachtree City; thirty-plus years, even more so. I remember checking out books from the library as a teen when it was over in Aberdeen Village Center. I think I read every Phyllis Whitney book on their shelves during the summer of 1985.   

In her 28 years with the city, M.T. guided the library through enormous change. Under her watch, the library went from a traditional card catalog system, to microfiche, then to a shared computerized catalog system updated weekly via magnetic tapes couriered from the headquarters library in Griffin. I don’t think anyone can forget when the library went live with its new high-speed fiber optic Internet access in 1999, the first of its kind in Peachtree City which brought the public through our doors in record numbers. That same year, M.T. and the rest of the library staff re-barcoded the entire collection in preparation for migrating to the Internet-based multi-system union catalog, Georgia Library PINES, on January 1, 2000.

M.T. guided the library through four moves: from space in the old Municipal Building on Willowbend Road, 1974-1986 (demolished in 1990); to Aberdeen Village Center, 1985-1987 (in the far end of what is now Royal Lanes Social); to its current home at 201 Willowbend Road, 1987-2004; to a temporary location at 2011 Commerce Drive, 2004-2005 (now Executive Suites) while the Willowbend facility underwent major renovations; and back to its forever home at 201 Willowbend, Nov. 2005-Present. Phew!

M.T. retired from the city in 2007 after 28 years of service, but continued watch over her beloved community as a volunteer at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. M.T. passed away in 2020 after a hard fought battle with breast cancer, leaving a legacy of kindness and community spirit in her wake.

M.T. once likened her job to that of a bartender. She not only helped people discover new books, but probably just as important, she listened to them and took an interest in their lives. As far as the library staff goes, you won’t find anyone who worked with M.T. who didn’t love her. I can’t imagine a more fitting tribute to the woman who was quite literally the face of Peachtree City for so many years. The best part? She was the kind of person who would wonder what all the fuss was about. Who, me?

A dedication will take place in the fall, date TBD.