The public library along with a small bookstore were officially inaugurated on 23 May 1876 by the Governor of Taganrog Admiral Johan Hampus Furuhjelm. In March 1878, the Public Library moved into another building granted by the City Council on Petrovskaya Street.

Among the first subscribers were the writer Anton Chekhov, historian Pavel Filevsky, Vladimir Bogoraz, artists Seraphima Blonskaya and Dmitri Sinodi-Popov.

In 1890, mayor of Taganrog Konstantin Foti asked Chekhov to send his books with author's dedications to the Taganrog Public Library.

In 1904, following Chekhov's death, the library was named after the playwright and short-story writer. The music department of the library is located at the historical Tchaikovsky House in Taganrog.

•  
  The old City Hall, home to the City Public Library in 1876–1877, photo taken in 2006.
•  
  Taganrog public library, between 1878 and 1910.
•  
  The project of the Chekhov Library & Museum in Taganrog designed by the architect Fyodor Schechtel (1911)
•  
  Chekhov Library & Museum on an old postcard (photo taken between 1911 and 1917).
•  
  The Chekhov Library until 2008.
•  
  Tchaikovsky House in Taganrog used as Foreign & Music Dept. of Chekhov Library. Photographed in 2010.

• Filevskii, Pavel (1898) Istoriya goroda Taganroga. Moskva: Tipo-lit. K. F. Aleksandrova
• Encyclopedia of Taganrog, second edition, Taganrog, 2003.
• The official Chekhov Public Library web site.

• Official homepage

47°13′00″N 38°55′39″E / 47.2167°N 38.9276°E / 47.2167; 38.9276