of a mill of the city tax levy toward its support. This was increased in 1889 to two-tenths of a mill from which the library has since received. an annual sum which now amounts to about $1,500, towards its support. The books now number about 12,000 volumes including bound public documents. November 5, 1895, "The Library Association of Sandusky" was incorporated under the laws of the state and the library became free. The objects of the association set forth in its articles were "the establishment of a free library, the books of which shall be rendered accessible to its members and to aid by such means as may be in its power the increase of a larger and freer intellectual life in our midst." The Board of Managers is as follows: MRS. JAY O. Moss... MRS. I. F. MACK.. MRS. R. E. SCHUCK.. MRS. CHARLES H. Moss.. MR. JAMES WOOLWORTH. MRS. S. B. NEWBURY. MRS. A. W. MILLER. MRS. JOHN T. MACK... MRS. CHARLES E. COOKE. MISS HARRIET WEST.. MRS. C. B. WILCOX. President. Vice President. Treasurer. Trustees. The fee system of $2.00 per year was continued only as applying to those intrusted with its management. The drawing of books is now free to all under certain regulations and restrictions necessary to its proper management. A free reading room is maintained. The establishment of the free use of books and the privileges of the reading room in connection with the library marked a new era of increasing interest and growth. October 7, 1899, Andrew Carnegie, that generous friend of library extension, gave $50,000 for a public library building and its equipment-the only conditions being that a site should be furnished, the city should give $3,000 a year to maintain it and no part of the sum donated should be used for its main tenance. A lot for the building was given by the Library Building Fund Association of Sandusky. This association was suggested by Mrs. A. C. Moss and was formed November 20, 1886, by a number of Sandusky ladies interested in library extension for the purpose of procuring a fund for a library building in Sandusky and for intellectual improvement. The fund for this worthy object was raised largely by courses of lectures and entertainments, for a time given in the homes of the members, by life membership fees, and gifts and bequests of individuals who recognized the worthiness of the movement and the paramount need of a permanent home for the library if it were to become a free public library and fulfill in large measure its mission. The association was incorporated January 1, 1896. The articles of incorporation set forth the purpose to be "the acquiring by purchase, lease or gift of suitable and sufficient land in the city of Sandusky and constructing, owning, maintaining, repairing and operating thereon a suitable building or buildings in which to maintain a library of books, periodicals and other papers and documents, for the encouragement of literature and science and the culture of the members." The officers of the association prior to its incorporation were continued, and were as follows: By the year 1899 the association had accumulated between $9,000 and $10,000. A corner lot fronting on the city park, opposite the couri house and the high school building, 166 feet by 85 feet, and the most desirable available site for the purpose in the heart of the city, was purchased at a cost of $9,000, and when Mr. Carnegie's gift was made this. lot, free of all incumbrance, was presented to the library association in fee simple on which to erect the edifice his generosity had made immediately possible. The contract for the new building was let in the summer of 1900, the building to be completed in the spring of 1901. A view of the building now in process of erection is here given, taken from the architect's drawing and therefore not showing the approaches nor the fine views it will command. The building in style of architecture is an American rendering of the style of Francis I. and follows no historical precedents of any definite period. It may be said to be composite in style. The effect is largely obtained not by elaborate detail but by a simple massing of stone walls with high gables and steep tile roofs. The exterior construction is of Sandusky Blue Limestone, dressed rock face, and the roof of red Akron tile. At a few points such as the main portal and center of the wing walls ornamental work of Ohio Sandstone is introduced to give relief to plainness and suggest the purpose of the building which is twofold a public library and an auditorium. A foyer hall, entered through a spacious approach and loggia, flanked and marked by octagonal towers, separates the two parts, to the left the library rooms, to the right the auditorium, with the stack room between them. Stairways lead from the hall to the second floor rooms devoted to art and a historical museum. Another stairway from this hall leads to the basement. The stack room is fire-proof and will contain fifty-seven thousand volumes. There are reading rooms for adults, for children and for reference work; also rooms for the Board of Managers and the Librarian, lavatories, etc. All these are on the main floor of the east or library wing. The west or right wing is the auditorium or Music Hall, seating 450 persons, and having stage, organ and dressing rooms complete. In the basement are rooms for receiving and cataloguing books, seminar work, storage, laboratories and the heating and ventilating apparatus. The interior finish of the library is plain but neat, while that of the Music Hall is of a higher degree of architectural enrichment - the one typical of the sober, hard work involved in study and research, the other of the artistic and aesthetic field of human effort. SHELBY. *PUBLIC LIBRARY. "Uncle Dan" Marvin has donated to the public library of Shelby a property valued at $6,500, to be used as a home for that institution. This was the good news that was conveyed to the newspapers this morning by those who have received it in trust for the city until it can be accepted in an official way. The property spoken of is the J. Currie house and lot at the corner of Gamble street and Whitney avenue, recently vacated by the owners moving to Cleveland. The library will be moved from its present quarters in the Sutter-Higgins block just as soon as the Currie house can be repapered and painted and made ready for its new owners and tenants. That the gift meets with the hearty approval and best wishes of everybody in Shelby is only evidenced by a talk with citizens of the town. Even the boys and girls have caught the spirit of thankfulness which permeates the literary atmosphere, and are speculating on how long it will be until more books are added. The library is eminently popular with the boys and girls of the city, as may be learned any afternoon after school hours, when it is crowded with these youthful seekers of knowledge. To them the gift of a public library building appeals in a different manner than to those of maturer years, who look upon it as the crowning effort of an early born Shelby citizen to leave behind him a monument to his memory which shall stand when marble will have melted and inscriptions have faded away under the embrace of the ages. This sketch is adapted from an article in the Shelby Daily Globe of April 25, 1901. |