Depending on which decade you happened to walk past the Library, the building immediately east would be a shopping store of some sort. In the 1920s, 30s and early 40s it was the Sears, Roebuck & Co. retail outlet.
After that, in the late 40s and 50s it was Richman Brothers men’s clothing store.
The last business to hold down that site at 37 West Third Street was W.H. Oswalt Office Equipment. By 1980 it became an appendage to the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library and served as the Children’s Department, until it was demolished to make way for a new wing of the Library.
