Central Library History Tour
Photo tour of Central Library past and present.
Libraries started informally in St. Paul in the 1850s with private reading rooms.
1882 marks the official beginning of St. Paul Public Library.
SPPL had a variety of locations between 1882 and 1917 when Central Library opened.
1915: Market Hall fire burned the collection at the time.
Central Library constructed between 1914 and 1917 in Italian Renaissance revival; exterior in pink Tennessee marble, the interior is gray Mankato stone.
Total cost (including Hill Library): $1.5 million
Central Library cost $770,000 - including $130,000 for the site.
Funding:
- $30,000 bequest from former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Greenleaf Clark
- $100,000 from St. Paul Association of Commerce
- $600,000 in bonds
Andrew Carnegie supported St. Paul with 3 buildings:
- St. Anthony Park
- Riverview
- Arlington Hills
...but declined to contribute to Central because of the nearby presence of James J. Hill.
Architect: Electus D. Litchfield of New York City
Central and 3 Carnegie libraries opened in 1917.
Central Library remodeled in 1949, 1985, 2002, 2015.
Click or tap the first photo to begin the tour.
George Latimer Central Library
1900-1910 Market House Location, 7th Steet and Wabasha
1915 Market House fire Almost total destruction of the library. Nearly 160,000 volumes were lost.
Central Library was constructed from 1915 to 1917. The New York firm Sherwin & Berman was hired as decorators for the library.
Early library staff photo.
The first library director, Dr. William Dawson Johnson, pictured with the staff of the Saint Paul Public Library in the 1920s.
Cast iron half-floors in the back stacks area of the west wing. The bindery was located on the ground floor.
Youth Services Department in 1930.
Youth Services Department after renovation in 1949.
Youth Services is home of the puppet stage designed by Magnus Jemne in 1949. The stage is made from bleached walnut from southern Minnesota and features a carved head of Loki, the god of mischief in Norse mythology.
Skinner Room in 1970. The Skinner Room, named for library benefactor James H. Skinner, opened in 1939. Designed by local architecht Magnus Jemne, the room quickly became a national model for service to teens. In 1950, the Skinner family commissioned the carved sculpture of owls in the room as a memorial to William W. Skinner, Jr. who was killed in World War II. The room was converted to the Skinner Paperback Room in 1982.
Construction of the Nicholson Room which served as the main reading room when the Central Library opened in 1917.
The Nicholson Room and the Magazine Room ceilings were designed by Frank P. Fairbanks, working with Sherwin & Berwin of New York. The Nicholson Room ceilings contain logos from Renaissance printers and East Coast publishers and portraits of artisans. Printers' marks or devices were used in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were a way for printers to make a statement for their participation in the making of a book, much like companies using a trademark today.
Periodical Room (now the Nicholson Information Commons)
Elliot the Elevator Man
The arches are a recurring theme in the library: arched windows of the Italian Renaissance style architecture; arched sculptural friezes in the Nicholson Room, created by Ulysses Ricci of New York; arches preservered during the last renovation and integrated in the entrance to the Children's Room. The chairs are Chippendale Gothic design.
1954. The balcony stacks had been installed in the early 1950s.
The chandeliers were replaced by fluorescent light fixtures in the 1950s or 1960s.
Information Commons in 2000, just before renovation.
Over time, walls and ceiling became dirty with coal, railroad, and cigarette smoke.
The ceilings were cleaned using Ivory soap flakes and white bread.
Renovations added the mezzanine level, housing the Saint Paul Collection, which features materials about the city's history. The mezzanine is also home to the library's music score collection. In 2002, the room was generously endowed with a $1 million gift from local philanthropists Richard and Nancy Nicholson, and thus named the Nicholson Information Commons.
The Non-Fiction Room was originally the Circulation Room. Some time before the 2001 renovation, the number nine fell off the clock face. In 2017, library staff and volunteers traced the Roman numeral eleven (XI) and flipped it to create numeral 9 (IX) that could be scanned, edited, and then laser cut from wood using the Innovation Lab's laser cutter.
The ceilings were decorated by Frank P. Fairbanks, working in collaboration with Sherwin & Berman of New York City. The medallions feature representations .of the Muses, Graces, Fates, and Furies and were painted by Lee Woodward Zeigler, past president of the St. Paul Institute of Arts.
The Non-Fiction Room in 2000, before renovation (when it was the Magazine Room).
Greenleaf Clark Reference Room, 1918. The room was originally the Delivery Room -- where librarians would deliver books to patrons. The ceiling is an ancient 12th century Italian pattern. We believe it is patterened after a library ceiling in the Duomo di Siena. The central panel of the ceiling shows and old seal of the library, with the sword of St. Paul symbolizing the city -- supported by books and torches.
Patrons fill the Greenleaf Clark Reference Room on the third floor of the Central Library in the early 1930s. During the Great Depression, the library was crowded with unemployed workers who were seeking information on jobs and studying new careers.
Since 2002, the room has been the Magazine Room. The Fitzgerald Alcove opened in October 2004. The Minnesota Book Awards Collection opened in May 2007. This is a unique collection which includes all winners of the Minnesota Book Award, which has been given out since 1987.
Dedicated to advancing appreciation for Fitzgerald's literary contributions, informing visitors about the profound and long-lasting impact of his life, and celebrating a world-renowned author's beginnings in Saint Paul, Minnesota and created in partnership with the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library in 2004, the Fitzgerald Collection, located in the alcove of the 3rd floor Magazine Room, houses all Fitzgerald-related materials held at the Central Library. These materials include DVD’s, Books, and magazines. These contain books by him and his contemporaries, literary criticism of his works, movies written by and about him, works discussing his influence on the world, books about the time period he lived in, as well as books by Zelda Fitzgerald. Two items of note are the Strand Magazine containing a lost short story of his and his ledger, where he kept track of his notes and expenses.
Changed to the Fine Arts Room in 1930, the Mississippi Room was originally the Religion and Philosophy Room. The room had an auditorium for public use. The tables in the room are the original tables selected by Central Library architect Electus Litchfield.
Video services, 1945.
Phyllis Sands examines one of the old musical instruments in the Central Library, November 11, 1946. From the monogrammed jumper and the white shirt with French cuffs that Phyllis is wearing, we know she was a pupil at St. Joseph's Academy.
The Fine Arts Room included a soundproof Music Room, with custom-built wooden drawers for the vinyl record collection.
Art Room, 1960.
Fine arts reproductions were available to borrow.
Audiovisual Department, 1961.
Mississippi Room, 2000.
Central Library, 1920s.
Cost: $15.9 million
Interior was cleaned
Electrical updating
New entrance from Kellogg Boulevard
Courtyard planted with 4000 perennials
Children's Room enlarged and moved to other end of the building
West wing of building opened for public browsing
Bremer Community Room - meeting room and setting for book talks, author readings, etc.
Rivercentre Connection (tunnel) built under 4th Street to connect to skyway system.