A River of Books

Tim Kostohroyz and Paul Gullerud

Our cataloging efforts have been successful, we’re running out of books! The first of several shipments of books from Peter’s collection arrived today. Thanks to the work of Tim Kostohroyz and Paul Gullerud, we now have 75 boxes in the storeroom at ESFL. The Rachleff collection, over 4,000 books in all, will be keeping us busy for weeks to come. Peter is looking forward to seeing his books again, and the catalogers are looking forward to adding to their reading lists. I don’t think I’ve ever left a shift at the library without having added a few more titles to my list, and I’m looking forward to opening these boxes and finding more.

 

Origins of the Arlington Hills Carnegie Library

 

The Carnegie Library building that now houses the East Side Freedom Library was opened in 1917 along with two other Carnegie Libraries, the St. Anthony Library in St. Anthony Park and the Riverview Library on the West Side. All three were designed by Charles Hausler, the St. Paul City Architect, and all share the same neoclassical, Beaux-Arts style. The Arlington Hills branch replaced what was called a “library deposit,” or a circulating collection of library materials, that had occupied a portion of Bodin’s Drug Store at 896 Payne Ave since February of 1905. Lending libraries tucked into the corner of commercial spaces was a common practice. The Minneapolis Athenaeum, which would eventually become the Minneapolis Public Library, had begun in a corner of the bookstore owned by T. H. Williams, the Athenaeum librarian. When the idea of dedicated spaces for libraries arose not everyone thought that a beautiful building for the community would be worth the expense involved.  In St, Paul, the offer of a Carnegie Foundation Grant proved too tempting to refuse.

The history of the Arlington Hills. Carnegie Library began on the eve of World War I. Early in 1914 the St. Paul library board initiated informal correspondence with the Carnegie Foundation. They wrote about the building of a new Central Library and the gift of 700,000 dollars from James J. Hill to build a reference library next to the new Central Library. Clearly this was a city that valued books and libraries, making it an ideal home for a series of branch libraries funded by the Carnegie Foundation! Serious negotiations followed and C. W. Ames, library board member, announced in the St. Paul Dispatch in May of 1915 that an offer had been received from the Carnegie Foundation to grant 75,000 dollars for the construction of three libraries in the city of St. Paul.

As Scott mentioned in his post about Andrew Carnegie, these gifts came with strings attached. The communities that were awarded the grant had to provide the site the library would be built on and agreements had to be signed that ensured the community would provide funds totaling 10 percent of the cost of construction to cover building maintenance, staffing, and materials. Not everyone on the City Council appreciated this offer, or thought it was in the best interests of the community. Reasons given for this reluctance included worry about an anticipated increase in the tax levy the following year, a general feeling that there were more pressing interests for the city to address before it funded libraries, and the philosophy, expressed by councilman Henry McColl in the May 17th 1914 issue of the St Paul Dispatch, that “it was not right for a city of this size to take advantage of the Carnegie Library plan.”

By July 23 Commissioner Anthony Yeorg after taking the advice of Corporation Attorney D. H. O’Neill, introduced an ordinance to the City Council for the acceptance of the Carnegie Foundation gift along with his recommendation that it be approved. Further support for the Carnegie Library plan arrived in the pages of the St. Paul Dispatch one week later with Dr. Dawson Johnston, librarian, weighing in with statistics that indicated that children who did not live within a mile of the library were far less likely to use it. He also attributed the higher use of libraries in Minneapolis to the fact that they had 16 branches and, perhaps as a direct answer to Henry McColl, pointed out that the Franklin Library in Minneapolis was built with Carnegie funds. The rivalry between Minneapolis and St. Paul was clearly a lever in this appeal to the City Council. It was also reported that “E. A. Young, former member of the library board, said that Mr. Carnegie’s money was as good as any other rich person’s and he saw no reason for refusing it.” No mention was made of any arguments put forward objecting to accepting money from Andrew Carnegie, specifically.

The City Council did vote in favor of accepting the Carnegie Foundation gift. A letter circulated by the Library Committee to the residents of the East Side exhorted the community to support the gift of “Andrew Carnegie, the Library Builder” by raising funds to buy the land the library would be built on, in the case of the Arlington Hills the corner of Greenbrier and Jessamine streets, and a week-long fundraising effort was initiated to coincide with Library Week in November. The letter advised

You may expect to be approached as regards your donation toward the sum needed. For your own sake, for the uplift of the community and particularly because of the value this shall be to our children, the committee asks your hearty support to the work.

The land was purchased for 1,800 dollars and deeded to the city on February 2, 1916.

Working with the Carnegie Foundation, Charles Hauser designed all three buildings to the same basic floor plan with differences in their exterior decoration. The Carnegie Foundation did not approve all aspects of the plans as initially submitted and instructed Hauser to make changes changes, such as the height of the ceilings, and these may have been the changes that led to a delay in the construction of the buildings. The St. Paul Dispatch on March 30^th reported that Attorney O’Neill believed the process that awarded the bid to Cameron and Company was illegal because changes had been made to the plans after bidding on the project had ended. The bidding process would have to be repeated, allowing all the bidders access to accurate information. Ultimately Cameron and Company was awarded the project and signed a contract with the City of St. Paul on April 5^th, 1916.

By September of 1917 all three libraries were completed, as was the new Central Library in downtown St. Paul, and all four libraries formally opened the week of October 10^th when the State Librarians association held its convention in St. Paul. Speeches by dignitaries, musical performances, parades of children, and orations were some of the offerings given to celebrate the building dedications during what was being called “Library Week.” There was a great deal of excitement surrounding these libraries and they were quickly embraced by their communities. The Arlington Hills branch had been so busy in the few weeks it had been open before the dedication that it had been necessary to send to the Central Library every two days for more books as the shelves emptied almost as soon as they were filled.

The Arlington Hills Library continued to be popular long after the dust of the celebrations had settled. In 1931 a report noted that 1,193 new borrowers had been registered, that every day students from all levels – elementary school to college – visited the library, and books were provided for patrons in Polish, German, and Scandinavian languages. The East Side Freedom Library will continue the tradition of providing a welcoming space for immigrants. Rather than providing reading material in many languages, the ESFL will be gathering stories and providing a place where people who have traveled here from many countries and cultures, as well as those people whose families have lived in this community since the library was built, can share their stories with one another.