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History of the Huntington Beach Library
History of The
Huntington Beach Public
Library 1909-1975 from the dedication booklet for the
Huntington Beach Library & Cultural Center, Saturday April
5, 1975 Beginning From the beginning the Huntington Beach
Public Library has been an illustration of citizen concern
for the community and its future generations. Shortly before
the city was incorporated February 1909, the possibility of
opening a library was brought to the attention of the Board
of Trade by two citizens, R.W. Blodgett and Mrs. R.H.
Lindgren. Efforts of these two citizens aroused the interest
of some local organizations and the Huntington Beach Women's
Club called a mass meeting on February 15, 1909, to form a
library association. Library Association This meeting
resulted in a temporary organization being established and
Mrs. Blodgett was asked to draw up a constitution and
by-laws for the new organization.
The first board of
trustees consisted of Mr. A. W. Everett, Mrs. C. D. Heartwell, Mrs. Mary Manske, Miss Alma Wilson and Mr. A. L.
Reed. Each member of this board represented a different
group or interest in the city. Once the Public Library
Association was established, friends in the community began
giving books and other necessary things and a home for the
new library became a problem. The board decided to buy an
old office building which was to be moved and Mr. Reed
guaranteed payment of $50 for the roofless building. Mr. S.
E. Hearn agreed to allow the board to move the building to a
lot at the corner of Walnut Avenue and Main Street for a
nominal rent charge. Community involvement in the new
library was particularly noteworthy during this period.
During the time the citizens and the library trustees were
busy readying the new library the city was officially
incorporated and a board of trustees, the forerunner of
today's city council, was elected. Community involvement On
June 14, 1909, the president of the Public Library
Association, Mr. Everett, appeared before the city board and
offered to turn over the library to the city.
The subsequent
agreement called for the city to set aside $300 for the
immediate use of the library, to assume its debts and to
support the library with tax funds. After Mr. Everett's
appearance before the board, the city governing body enacted
Ordinance 18, which established a public library. At this
time, the city's board chairman, Ed Manning, appointed the
first library board of trustees. Members of the first board
were Mr. Everett, president; Mrs. Lindgren, secretary; Mrs. Manske; Mrs. Blodgett; and Ida Vincent. First librarian
Shortly after the city acquired the new library, Elizabeth
Singleton and two assistant librarians from Long Beach came
to the city and catalogued the books free of charge. Their
lunches and traveling expenses were provided by the Library
Board of Trustees. Edith Brown of Long Beach became the
first city librarian in July, 1909. At that time there were
338 volumes in the library, 228 were gifts while 110 had
been bought new. The new library subscribed to twelve
magazines and held hours of 10 a.m. to noon and 2:00 p.m. to
7 p.m. In August, Mr. Hearn, owner of the property where the
library was located, notified the Library Board that the
library had to move by the end of the year. In January,
1911, the library was moved to the intersection of Walnut
Avenue and 3rd Street.
Many improvements Miss Andrews was granted a leave of
absence from her librarian's job in March, 1911, and when
she failed to return, Bertha Proctor was permanently
appointed to take her place in May. At that time the
librarian's salary was $35 per month. During the next few
months there were many improvements to the library building
and its surroundings but it was becoming more apparent that
the need for a permanent library building was surfacing. The
Huntington Beach Company offered the city a site provided a
$5,000 building was erected on the property. The Library
Board began looking for the means to accomplish such an
endeavor but the project was temporarily abandoned when no
funds could be located.
Council aids-After some discussion,
the Library Board decided to purchase four lots on the
corner of Walnut Avenue and 8th Street at a cost of $1900.
The Library Board was able to come up with all but $300, so
the City Council provided the extra money and by May, 1913,
the city had acquired a site for the proposed library. Once
the lots were clear and title was given to the city the
Library Board in cooperation with the City Council, the
Huntington Beach Women's Club and the Parent Teacher
Association began gathering the necessary data to obtain a
Carnegie Library building. Carnegie Library Carnegie Library
In February, 1913, councilmen received notification of the
$10,000 grant and they notified the Library Board to begin
discussing plans for the new library. In August, 1913, the
Carnegie Corporation accepted the plans and W. D. Lambert of
Long Beach received the contract. The cornerstone of the
Carnegie Library was laid during a big ceremony. The history
of the city, the library, names of all those who had served
on the Library Board, city trustees, pastors of the
churches, members of the Board of Trade, names of those who
had served on the library staff, the name of each child in
the schools and a small American flag were enclosed in the
stone. In a little over four years the number of volumes in
the library had risen from 328 volumes to 2800 volumes, 700
of which were donated by residents of the city.
The main floor of the new Carnegie Library housed an adult
reading room, a children's department and the librarian's
office. The lecture room, a reference room and the furnace
room were located downstairs. The Chamber of Commerce was
located in the lecture room until 1921. In order to be more
responsive to community needs the Library Board decided to
establish a reading room at 205 Main Street.
The reading
room was open the same hours as the main library, 10 a.m. to
9 p.m. The reading room was used for a three-year period
from 1928 until August, 1931. Earthquake damage In March,
1933, the Carnegie Library suffered considerable damage in
the great earthquake which struck the area. The board
authorized Catching Brothers Company to make the necessary
repairs to the Carnegie building.
1934 saw the library lose
its librarian of 23 years when Bertha Reynolds (formerly
Proctor) resigned. She had seen the library grow from the
small building at Walnut Avenue and 3rd Street to the
Carnegie Building at Walnut Avenue and 8th Street, and now
the library was outgrowing that facility. A preliminary set
of plans was submitted to the Library Board by Architects
McClelland, McDonald, and Markwith of Los Angeles, but the
advent of World War II held up construction until 1949.
Margaret Kemp served as temporary librarian until Floyd
Jorgensen filled the job in 1937. When he left for the
military, Lylyan Mossinger took over and served until 1959.
On Friday, July 13, 1951, the Carnegie Library closed its
doors after almost 40 years of service. When the doors
closed, the library had a total of 42,000 volumes. On
Sunday, September 30, 1951, the new library building at 525
Main Street was dedicated by Mayor Vernon Langenbeck. The
library was built at a cost of $140,000. Members of the
Library Board at the time of the dedication were Pearl M.
Jones, president, Berta Tovatt, J. K. McDonald, Edith Vavra,
and G. H. Hasson. Walter Johnson The new Huntington Beach
Library started its existence in 1967 when the Librarian
Walter Johnson created a program citing the library needs
for a growing community and the library board selected the
Talbert Avenue site. The City Council then decided to place
the library program on the ballot. The issue failed on the
election held on November 5, 1968. With approximately 62
percent of the vote in favor of the library, however, the
council decided to fund the project through the creation of
a Public Facilities Corporation and created a five-man
corporation for this purpose.
The same body represented the city for the new Civic Center.
Members are Dr. Dudley Boyce, Darrell Ward, Robert Polly,
William Armstrong and Larry Curran. Hire Neutra Library
Board members, wanting a first hand view, toured libraries
in California that had recently been constructed and were of
similar size. The board developed a list of some 35
architects that they were interested in considering and
eventually narrowed it down to 17 whom they invited in for
interviews. Of the 17, the firm of Richard & Dion Neutra was
asked to design the library. Shortly before the actual
signing of the agreement, Richard Neutra passed away while
on tour and his son, Dion, was retained to design the
project. The site had been selected because of its
centralized location, both geographically and by population,
and because of the natural beauty surrounding it. A ten-acre
plot of land was purchased for the site, including part of
Talbert Lake, and the ground breaking ceremony took place on
October 28, 1972. Central Library and Cultural Center
dedicated April 5, 1975
Source: Book published for dedication of
groundbreaking of Huntington Beach Public Library. See the
Carnegie Library List of Buildings http://carnegie-libraries.org/california/CAcity.html
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