The children of Danny and Liz King of Sevierville remember visiting the library as children to work on book reports, learn their family history or simply find a new book to read.

D.J., 17, and a senior at Sevier County High School, said he remembers getting his first library card and going back the next day to check something out.

Lindsey, 19, and a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, said she was able to learn about her family's history, especially that of her dad's parents she never got to meet.

The siblings are the eighth generation of Kings to live in Sevier County, thanks to what they learned from a family history compiled using information available at the Sevier County Public Library.

As a way to give back to the community and a library system that has provided them so much, the King family is giving $1 million to the Sevier County Public Library System Foundation to jumpstart construction of a $9 million, 45,000-square-foot facility - that will bear their name.

The new King Family Library of the Sevier County Public Library System will be located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Gary Wade Boulevard/High Street and Prince/Railroad Street, near the Municipal Complex.

The property was where the family lumber business was located. In later years, the family operated its hardwood flooring company at the site.

When the business outgrew the location, Danny King said the Board of Education purchased the land. It, too, outgrew the location and a land swap was worked out between the county and the board for the purpose of a new library.

In addition to the King family donation, the city of Sevierville has pledged $1 million and Sevier County $2 million for the library. That leaves at least $5 million needed to build the facility.

Liz King said the decision to donate $1 million was one the entire family.

"When we began talking about the donation, it was a prayerful decision," she said. "Our family came together to talk about it and pray about it. We all felt this is what we should do, what we were led to do."

Having the library named after them was another thing. Though honored by it, they essentially had to be talked into putting their name on the library.

"This is not the King family library," Danny King said. "It's the community's library, a library that can serve the area in so many various ways."

Danny King said he considered the gift "an investment in the future of Sevier County."

The donation follows a tradition started four decades ago when Danny King's father, A.J. King, presented the first gift of $1,000 for the construction of the currently main library.

"My father A.J. viewed his $1,000 contribution of a new library 40 years ago as a gift that looked to the future, not just something that was food for then, but that would be inspiring for generations to come," his son said. "We feel that same way about our gift today. Now there is an opportunity for our family to be part of the legacy as well."

Lindsey King said she was awed when she saw the plans for the library, which will be about nine times larger than the 5,500-square-foot main branch. The new facility will include areas for both children and teens, an expanded genealogy section, classrooms, meeting rooms, reading areas, lecture and theater halls, a cafe and a catering kitchen.

D.J. King said he wished plans for a new library had come about sooner.

"I find myself in coffee shops studying," he said.

"Maybe I would have done better on my ACT," joked his sister, who was designated summa cum laude at UT this past semester.

For those associated with the library, the donation is the start of meeting a goal to provide more services, especially in regards to the genealogy department.

K.C. Williams, executive director of the county's library system, said the library now has 2,500 square feet of genealogical information.

"But we also have an additional 2,500 square feet in storage, climate controlled, that they don't have access to," Williams said.

Such historical documents have to be preserved, archivally stored, organized and protected, she explained. When the new library is built, the library will have the facilities in which to store the documents while at the same time making them available to the public.

Circuit Judge Rex Henry Ogle, who serves as president of the library foundation, thanked the Kings for their donation.

"I have known Danny and Liz almost all my life and they are two of the most giving individuals that I know," Ogle said. "They have always done their work quietly and behind the scenes, and have truly enriched so many people's lives. It's just amazing how many people they have helped. The gift from the King family will allow Sevier County to have a state-of-the-art library. It couldn't happen without them."