The area now called Belize was believed to be settled by English pirates or shipwrecked buccaneers seeking lumber and/or a safe haven in the mid-1600s. It later became the English colony of British Honduras. The patrons that use this 88-year-old library are a mix of races and cultures, most notably the Maya Mestizos who fled during the 19th Century Caste War from nearby Mexico. The father-son reading sculpture is an expression of the central importance of the library in this very poor town.