The Community Center building was constructed as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which hired Iron County residents mostly Finnish descent to construct the facility from whole logs of Norway pine. From a 1938 W.P.A. History of Iron County: “The Finn, with ax and augur as his only tools, builds a wall that is airtight without mortar, each log meeting the next so closely, each intersection being shaped so consisely [sic], that the logs fairly merge into one another. The logs being used in the community building at Mercer are eighty to ninety feet long with twelve inch butts and eight inch tops. No machinery of any sort is used to hoist these huge trunks from the group to the desired position some twelve or fourteen feet above… No nails or spikes are used in the construction… Heavy wooden pins, hand made, are driven into auger holes, and upon these the perfect joints and balance and stability of the whole structure depends.” The original building has been heavily remodeled over the years, but a few parts of the original construction can still be seen inside the building.

In the mid-1930’s, a group of women organized to form the Mercer Civic Women’s Club. These ambitious ladies made many contributions to the community. Among the most noted of their achievements was the opening of the Mercer Public Library in the newly opened community center. Through the diligent efforts of these women the library was opened in the fall of 1938. They sent out requests for books and received donations from as far away as Chicago, Illinois. Neighbors to the north from Ashland and Hurley also donated many books.

By 1980, the library had outgrown its space in the Community Center. The town moved the library into the Haines Building on Railroad Street. but in just a few years the library had outgrown its new location.