Following World War I the Tilden chapter of the Red Cross had money left in their treasury. With this funding the Tilden Women’s Club began acquiring books in May, 1922 and established a reading room. The first accession book lists 820 volumes by August of that year.

In December 1925 the Tilden Library Board, elected by the City Council held its first meeting for the purpose of organization. The Red Cross offered the rooms to be used by the library for $25 per month. A librarian was hired for $25 per month.

In the last 75 years, the Tilden Public Library has been housed in four locations. The first was at the corner of 2nd and Madison Streets. At that time the door was conveniently located in the northwest corner of the building. In 1942 the library collection was moved to the south end of the same building. In 1944 the Library Board in cooperation with the City of Tilden purchased the "Barnum" building at 104 S. Center. In 1956 the new City Auditiorium included a room for the Library. This room was enlarged in 1979. In 1986, with the help of a Peter Kiewit grant the present building at 108 E 2nd St. was purchased. this provided more space and was more conveniently located.