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CHAPTER L
DECATUR PUBLIC LIBRARY
ONE
bleak November day, in the year 1867, a little
group of women sat talking in the home of Mrs.
A. T. Hill. They were women who
realized the worth of the books and they wanted
to devise a plan whereby a library, open to
everyone in Decatur, could be provided.
They felt that Decatur needed such an
institution. That was the real beginning
of the splendid public library which Decatur has
today.
In that group of women were: Mrs. J. J.
Jones, Mrs. R. Gallagher, Mrs. M. E.
Jones, Mrs. E. J. Evans, Mrs. G. E.
Morehouse, Mrs. H. C. Johns and Mrs.
W. T. Wells. They decided to call a
meeting of citizens at the Baptist church on
Tuesday, Dec. 3, to establish a Ladies Library
association. It is interesting to note
that the women at the first meeting pledged
themselves "to work faithfully and not relax
their efforts until a public library was founded
in the city."
At the Dec. 3 meeting membership fees were
set and committees appointed. The women
met again Dec. 9 and adopted a constitution.
At their Dec. 13 meeting they adopted by-laws,
and elected officers as follows:
President - Mrs. A. A.
Powers
Vice President - Miss Mary
Baker
Secretary - Mrs. M. E.
Jones
Treasurer - Mrs. A. T.
Hill
Board of directors - Mrs. Lamira
Wilkinson, Mrs. M. K. Hatch, Mrs.
S. F. Greer,
Mrs. J. J. Jones,
Mrs. H. C. Johns, Mrs. A. J.
Gallagher, Miss Alice Shellabarger.
MRS. A. A.
POWERS
Rooms for the library were secured on the
second floor of the building at Main and Water
streets. E. O.
Smith donated five settees, two of which
were cushioned at the expense of Mrs.
Wilkinson. Several friends gave books.
With books that were purchased, the shelves
began filling up.
The library was open at first on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Jan. 22,
1868, Miss Sallie Taylor
was appointed librarian. At her request
Miss Mollie Thatcher was named
assistant.
The women began to get busy at once to raise
money for the library. A series of four
presentations of a musical and dramatic
entertainment brought in $237.35. A
Thanksgiving festival netted $114.85.
When the first annual meeting was held Dec.
14, 1868, at Powers hall, it was reported
the association had about 1,000 volumes in the
library, and during the ten months previous the
book circulation had been 4,386. There
were 239 life members, and 278 annual members.
The treasurer reported receipts of $2,084.35 and
expenditures of $2,012.69.
In 1869 Miss Josephine Stamper was
appointed librarian, Miss Taylor having
resigned. Miss Ada Powers was named
assistant.
By 1873 the women began to urge that the city
council take over the library under the new
library law which had been passed in 1872
permitting levy of tax for library purposes.
On July 21, 1874, it was decided to move the
library to the new Schroeder building on
East Prairie street.
About this time there was considerable
agitation in Decatur against the saloons and
some of the citizens were urging establishment
of a reading room as a counter attraction.
This was finally accomplished in October, 1874,
when the Reading Room association was organized
with officers as follows:
President - E. A. Gastman
Vice President - Rev. Robert McKenzie
Secretary - R. P. Lytle
Treasurer - B. K. Durfee
Directors- Mary Ennis, W. J. Quinlan,
W. A. Barnes, Mrs. A. T. Hill,
Mrs. A. J. Gallagher, Mrs. R. L.
Walston and Mrs. H. C. Johns.
This association made arrangements to rent
the room back of the library room and Miss
Caroline Allen
was appointed custodian of the reading room at
the a salary of $1 a day. H. C. Lintner
donated some furniture, and Mrs. H. C. Johns
and Mrs. R. I. Walston raised a fund of
$720 for reading matter, and other expenses.
It was being felt more and more that the city
council should take over both the library and
reading room, and finally a petition to that
effect from the Ladies Library association, the
Reading Room association and various other
citizens as well was presented by W. J.
Quinlan.
At the council meeting Aug. 3, 1875, vote was
taken on the proposition, and it resulted in a
tie. Mayor R. H. Meriweather cast
the deciding vote in favor of the library, and a
week later, on Aug. 10, 1875, the Decatur public
library was organized.1
During all the years of the existence of the
Ladies Library association Mrs. A. A. Powers
was its president, except in the last six months
when she was in San Jose , Cal., with her
daughter, Mrs. J. K. Warren. Mrs.
W. W. Dewolf was the president the last
six months.
The first library board, after the city
council took over the library was composed of
Joseph Mills, president; J. L. Peake,
William A. Barnes, Mrs. C. A. Ewing,
Mrs. S. F. Greer, Mrs. B. F. Sibley,
W. H. Ennis, W. W. Foster, W. L.
Hammer.
Richard L. Evans, the first librarian,
named in 1875, held that position until the time
of his death, in November, 1881, when he was
succeeded by his widow, Mrs. Alice G. Evans.
RICHARD L.
EVANS
When the first annual report was submitted
May 1, 1876, it showed that the library
contained 1,619 books. In the year there
had been 40,138 visitors.
When the library first came into possession
of the city it occupied two rooms on the second
floor in the Schroeder
building on East Prairie street. These
rooms were occupied until Oct. 5, 1881, when the
library was moved to the second floor of the old
Powers building on South Water street. In
1889 another move was made this time to the
Roberts and Greene building at Main
and William streets. There it remained
until the building was destroyed by fire, Feb.
2, 1892. Furniture, fixtures and 4,300
books of the library were lost in that fire.
Temporary quarters for the library were
secured in the old Presbyterian church building
on West Prairie, which had just been vacated,
and there it stayed until the Roberts and Greene
building was rebuilt. The move back to
that building was made in the fall of that year,
and there the library remained until 1897 when
it was moved to the fifth floor of the Powers
building. That was the last move made by
the library until it entered its own building in
1903.
One item of early library history which
should be remembered is the public fund which
was raised to purchase books shortly after the
city had taken over the library. Two
women, Mrs. H. C. Johns and Mrs. R. L.
Walston, solicited subscriptions until
they had raised $3,000. L. L. Haworth was
the first subscriber, giving $100, and other
business men gave like accounts.
NEW BUILDING
Andrew Carnegie was giving away funds for
library buildings in 1900. C. M. Hurst,
who knew his private secretary, suggested an
application for Decatur. Mayor George A.
Stadler, Charles M. Hurst
and Mrs. Alice G. Evans, librarian, left
Decatur Jan. 26, 1901, for New York to interview
Mr. Carnegie. They did not see him, but
were told to submit their request in writing.
Mayor Stadler, within five days after
returning home, received a letter from Mrs.
Carnegie's secretary saying that Mr.
Carnegie
would give $60,000. The letter follows:
"Andrew Carnegie,
"5 West 51st street
"Mayor G. A.
Stadler,
"Decatur, Ill. |
New
York,
6th February, 1901 |
"Dear Sir - Mr. Carnegie
desires me to say that if the city
of Decatur will provide a suitable
site and agree to spend not less
than $6,000 per year upon the
maintenance of the library he will
give $60,000 for the building.
"Respectfully yours, |
| |
"JAMES
BUTRAM,
"Private Secretary" |
The lot at the southwest corner of Main and
Eldorado streets was selected as a site for the
building. It was bought from the heirs of
Mrs. A. A. Powers for $15,000.
While it was felt that this was a suitable
location for a library, citizens did not lose
sight of the significant fact that this corner
was for many years the home of Mrs. Powers,
who had been president for six years of the
Ladies' Library Association.
The lot was bought in May, 1901.
Mauran, Russell and Garden,
architects of St. Louis, were engaged to draw
plans for the building and contract was let on
Jan. 30, 1902, for the construction work, to V.
Jobst and Sons of Peoria. July 1,
1903, saw the library established in its new
home.
At the time the building project was first
started the library board consisted of W. J.
Quinlan, E. P.
Vail, O. B. Gorin, W. J. Wayne,
R. R. Montgomery, H. C. Schaub,
Mrs. I. N. Barnes, Mrs. B. O.
McReynolds, Miss Nettie Lindsay.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
Mrs. Quinlan, who had been one of the
most active promoters of a library board for
twenty-one years, from 1884 to 1905. From
1897 to 1905 he was president of the board.
In 1908 the library began its extension work
by establishing a branch library at H. B.
Durfee school. This eventually
resulted in the erection of the Branch library
building on North Jasper street, named the Alice
G. Evans branch. It was dedicated
in July, 1922.
Since then various branches in schools and
factories have been established.
One valuable possession of the library is the
collection of Lincolnia, donated in 1921 by Miss
Jane Hamand. This includes the
Kirkham grammar from which Abraham Lincoln
and Ann Rutledge studied.
MRS. ALICE G. EVANS
Few people in Decatur have given to any
institution the service which Mrs. Alice G.
Evans gave to the public library. From
its very beginning, when her husband was
librarian, until her death, on Feb. 9, 1926, she
had been connected with it, first as assistant
to her husband, then as librarian herself.
Her progressive spirit kept the library in
advance in making improvements and taking up new
methods that increased the service to the
public.
At that time she celebrated the fiftieth
anniversary of her connection with the library,
on Aug. 10, 1925, she was presented a year's
leave of absence by the board. It was also
the golden jubilee of the library. Mrs.
Evans was the central figure in that
celebration, and was presented with a purse of
gold.
Following the death of Mrs. Evans,
which occurred Feb. 9, 1926, Miss Minnie Dill
was appointed librarian and has since held that
position.
The annual report of the year 1929 showed
that the total circulation of books was 314,926.
The total number of borrowers was 17,925, and
the number of books in the library was 62,139.
------------------------
1. The
mayor was absent when that meeting convened.
His vote was necessary to break the tie on the
board. It was a rainy night, but Mrs. Jane
M. Johns, undaunted, got into her buggy, drove
through the rain and mud to the mayor's home,
and persuaded him to come back with her to the
council meeting. So the deciding vote was
cast which gave Decatur its library.
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