Hamline Midway
The new Hamline Midway Library is open! Visit us at 1558 W Minnehaha Avenue in Saint Paul. For hours and other information, visit the location page.
Features of the New Hamline Midway Library
Accessibility
The new library’s front door is just feet away from the street and sidewalk. Large windows welcome visitors into the accessible, one-story space as they enter the building through a shared pathway and doorway. Public computer stations meet accessibility standards and community rooms are outfitted with hybrid meeting technology like wireless screen share, microphones, soundbar, and more.
Flexibility
Libraries are places for both quiet and loud. Hamline Midway is outfitted with spaces for independent or group work and study, reading and browsing, and play. Two community rooms house movable tables and chairs and technology for presentations and hybrid meetings. The large community room includes a sink and large accordion doors that open into the main library space for overflow. Both rooms, as well as two new study rooms, are available for the public to reserve. The new teen area and children’s area features comfortable, movable seating, tables, and play elements.
Sustainability
The Hamline Midway Library is designed to meet city and state sustainability standards.
The new building features high-performance mechanical systems, including a geothermal well and heat pump along with solar panels. The well and heat pump provide heating and cooling for the building by drawing from the stable temperature of deep groundwater. Rooftop solar panels are expected to produce 39,000 kWh per year, which is half the electricity needed to maintain the building, saving the City of Saint Paul approximately $5,000 a year in utility costs.
The new library building is all-electric. High-performance systems, like insulation, ventilation, and plumbing, make it 80% more energy efficient than an average building. Benefits include improved air quality for staff and visitors and overall reduced costs for the city to run the building.
An underground stormwater container sits below the parking lot and the building is surrounded by absorbent pavement to help minimize stormwater runoff into nearby lakes and rivers. The library is surrounded by gardens, with a focus on plants that attract pollinators, to support biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem.
Reflecting Neighborhood Cultures
Local artists with deep connections to Saint Paul created original art to define the space, providing a reflection and connection to the many cultures and stories of Hamline Midway. Check out the exterior mural, bike racks, and 3-D installations near the fireplace and in the children’s area. Materials both new and well-loved stock the shelves, with stories that reflect the languages, experiences, histories, and perspectives of the neighborhood.
Honoring History
The former building’s preserved stone arch entryway and salvaged brick lead to a small meeting room. Salvaged wood from the previous building’s stage encases the entrance to the large community room. The refreshed exterior features a unique diamond brick pattern discovered in the former library’s original 1929 draft documents. Just like the previous building, a fireplace adorns the space and provides community with a space to find quiet or gather.
Public Art
Bloom!
By Kelsi Sharp
Inspired by a children's maze toy imagined on a surreal scale and with impossible curves. Our process started with community dialogue and inspiration points brought to our team by the library staff and art curator - we knew we wanted to design something specifically for children, that would be exciting to all audiences, a quality I admire in the best children's toys, books and media. I am nostalgic for the type of analog play this object represents: toys that educate and entertain with the simplest construction, zero batteries and a bit of color. Through the illustrations and color palette we aimed to evoke one of the Hamline Midway Library's major themes, "pollinators," but keep the approach childlike, accessible, and not too literal. We are honored to contribute this piece of sculpture in the tradition of the many women who advocated for and contributed to this specific branch's legacy and broadly honored to shape the beloved third space that libraries occupy in so many lives. Thank you, please enjoy.
Medium: sculpture, mixed media (steel pipes, foam blocks, paint)
The Bee, the Butterfly, and the Hummingbird
By Lucy Michell
Inspired by the Hamline Midway Coalition's Pollinator Pathways Initiative, I chose three of MN pollinators and the native plants that they pollinate for my designs: the solitary Bee, Monarch Butterfly and the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. By basing my designs around MN's biodiversity I wanted to create a connection to land and place and reference the idea of the interconnectedness of our ecosystem. Creating these designs for metal was a thrilling challenge, it forced me to break the images down into their simplest forms, utilizing color and the negative and positive space.
Medium: Metal
People As Pollinators
By Rock Cyfi Martinez + Ewok
Inspired by M. C. Escher's Relativity, this design explores collective growth, resilience, and connection. Intersecting pathways and architectural forms reflect the many experiences that come together to shape the Hamline Midway community. Pollinators appear throughout the composition as symbols of care, collaboration, and renewal, while layered details and hidden references celebrate the people and stories that strengthen the community.
Medium: Aerosol and acrylic on Polytab
Metamorphosis
By Shea Maze
This artwork series is a metaphorical tribute to the Hamline Midway Library and our pollinators. This work likens the library’s history to the four stages of butterfly metamorphosis: Egg, Larva, Chrysalis, and Adult.
Egg Stage: In 1908, the volunteer run, penny-a-book lending library opens (egg is fertilized).
Larva Stage: In 1930, the Library is officially open (a caterpillar emerges). Similar to a caterpillar, the library goes through a phase of growth, collecting resources and interacting with its ecosystem. Although it’s not the final form, it’s an essential step toward it.
Chrysalis Stage: In 2023, the library officially closes for demo and reconstruction (caterpillar enters its chrysalis, closing itself off from the world). A major transformation occurs for the caterpillar, being dissolved into its most basic components before taking its final form.
Adult Stage: In 2026, Hamline Midway Library officially reopens (butterfly emerges). It’s ready to play its role as a pollinator for the ecosystem.
Medium: Mixed media sculpture
Sidewalk Poetry
In partnership with Public Art Saint Paul
Sidewalk Poetry is a systems-based work that allows city residents to claim the sidewalks as their book pages. This project re-imagines Saint Paul’s annual sidewalk maintenance program with Public Works, as the department repairs 10 miles of sidewalk each year. Public Art Saint Paul has stamped more than 1,200 poems from a collection that now includes 73 individual pieces all written by Saint Paul residents. Today, everyone in Saint Paul now lives within a 10-minute walk of a Sidewalk Poem.
This art project began with previous Public Art Saint Paul City Artist Marcus Young in 2008 under the name “Everyday Poems for City Sidewalks,” and continues today.
Poems that surround Hamline Midway Library include “Untitled” by Pam Haas, “Čhaŋté Wadítaka” by Tanagidan to Win (Tara) Perron, Untitled by Filsan Ibrahim, “La poesía no es lujo” by Dr. Gabriela Spears-Rico, and Untitled by Grace Xiong.
Poems
Untitled
by Pam Haas
There's no place I'd rather be
than here
in this quiet common place
where late morning sun
meets the scent of concrete and cut grass
stirring
“Čhaŋté Wadítaka”
by Tanagidan to Win (Tara) Perron
Thokáta wičhóičhağe kiŋ, ŋŋ
Tókhetu thaŋíŋ šni kiŋhán dé abdéza
Wačhéuŋničičhiyapi
Waúŋničičhipi
Uŋníčidowaŋpi
Wóuŋničižupi
Nakúŋ wóuŋničihdakapi
Čhaŋté waníditake
Nakáh, nihákab naúŋžiŋpi
“Heart Warriors”
by Tanagidan to Win (Tara) Perron
Grandchildren of the future:
When times are uncertain please know this.
We prayed for you,
we danced for you,
we sang for you,
we planted seeds for you,
and we spoke for you!
Your heart is strong!
And now, we stand behind you!
Untitled
by Filsan Ibrahim
Haddii dadku isu yimaadaan oo
midoobaan waxay hanan karaan oo
hagaajin karaan cir dillaacay
Untitled
by Filsan Ibrahim
If people come together,
they can even mend
a crack in the sky.
”La poesía no es lujo”
by Dr. Gabriela Spears-Rico
La poesía no es lujo
para encerrar en un texto
Mi poesía urge
como urge el tiempo
Mi poesía ruge
como ruge el viento
El arte de mis palabras
no tiene precio
Y no están de venta
los sonidos de mis versos
Mi poesía es pobre
y aún así te alimento
Mi poesía es pan
para nutrir al pueblo.
“Poetry but not for leisure”
by Dr. Gabriela Spears-Rico
Poetry is not a leisurely
trapping of words on a piece of paper
My poetry urges
like time urges
My poetry howls
the wind roars
The art of my words
bears no price
And the sounds of these verses
are not for sale
My poetry is poor
and even then it feeds you
My poetry is bread
to nurture the people
Untitled
by Grace Xiong
Pib los ntawn tus dej Mekong
Tuaj txog hauv tus dej Mississippi
Kuv tau ua lub tsev tshiab hauv kuv lub siab
Untitled
by Grace Xiong
Beginning from the Mekong River
Arriving to the Mississippi River
I have a made a new home in my heart
