1912. R.D. Strong and John L. McKissock then established the Lake Worth Library Association on November 30. For several years, the library was housed inside a reading room located in City Hall. Although residents voted to officially establish the Lake Worth Public Library and allot $6,000 for the construction of a building in 1926, the funds remained insufficient. Congress approved a bill allotting $60,000 to construct a building bearing the name Major General William Jenkins Worth Memorial Library in 1939, nearly 100 years after the body of water was named in his honor. However, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed the bill, the residents of the community continued raising funds until the building was finally completed in 1941. James and William Strait also contributed $10,000 for an art museum wing, which is now the children's section. The library also houses noted artist R. Sherman Winton's only known collection, which features historical Florida themes of the Spanish period, as well as wood carvings by Sam J. Schlappich, a local artist who was featured in the Century of Progress Fair in 1933 and the World's Fair in 1939. In addition to the Lake Worth Beach Public Library, the city has more than 100 Little Free Library book exchanges as of late 2020. The construction and maintenance of the Little Free Libraries began due to the efforts of resident Mary Lindsey and over 120 voluneeters. By December 2020, the Little Free Library system in Lake Worth Beach had distributed approximately 500,000 books. Recreation The city's municipal beach is one of Southeast Florida's few remaining large areas of open, public space along the ocean. In 2013, the Lake Worth Casino complex reopened following a two-year, $6 million renovation. The neoclassical building approximates the original 1920s casino building, which served as a gambling establishment until the 1930s and had stood overlooking the ocean until it was replaced by a more modern, boxy building after the 1947 hurricane. Near the casino is the William O. Lockhart Municipal Pier, a popular landmark in Lake Worth Beach. Following Hurricane Frances in 2004, the pier was repaired and raised . The structure of the pier and wave action result in the creation of sandbars, which, according to the Lake Worth CRA, causes the pier to "provide the most consistent surf in South Florida". The Snook Islands Natural Area, located on the west shore of the Intracoastal Waterway just north