|
I It was in 1892 when Benjamin Franklin Felt, a prominent
banker and l: landowner who had removed to Galena in 1842,
presented to the City Council a petition of “leading
taxpayers” to fund a free public library.
The council said no, claiming that State law wouldn’t
allow enough money possible to establish a library.
Typical
for B.F. Felt, he took the initiative and offered to pay from
his own pocket the total costs for two years, donate 1200 books
to start the library as well as find and pay for a location and
room. B.F.
stipulated that the city of Galena would then take over and run
the library with a tax of 40 cents per household per year.
The
offer met with tremendous public support.
When the Council voted 7-3 to accept the offer, talk of a
petition was suggested by some citizens to remove the three
objectors. In their
defense, they claimed to be protecting the citizens from
exorbitantly high taxes.
Besides
the munificence of B.F. Felt, we today owe his daughter, Anna,
our respect and thanks. B.F.
said of Anna, “my daughter has done everything about the
library but pay the bills.
That is my part.
Anna was 35 in 1894, an independent young woman who had
graduated from Wells College in Aurora, NY where she was a
classmate and friend of the future First Lady, Mrs. Grover
Cleveland.
The
proposal accepted by the Council was unique in one important
respect. B.F. made
clear that four of the nine Library Board Trustees must be
female. The Chicago
Evening Post responded “We
cannot find one woman on a public school or private library
board in Chicago. Even
private libraries like the Newberry lack woman among their
directors. Galena
truly has put Chicago to the blush.”
The
“Women’s Journal” said, “This was the first time women
had been made directors in any public library in Illinois.”
Among those nine, of course, were four women, of which
one was Anna Felt, who became financial secretary and remained
on the board until her death in 1953!
The
first meeting of the Board of Trustees met in B.F.’s home on
Oct. 8, 1894, where terms of office were drawn, a rules and
regulations committee of three was chosen and a request was sent
to Washington D.C. to use rooms upstairs of the Post Office.
The
Trustees agreed that the Dewey Decimal System then in vogue
would be used and B.F. hired Miss. Lizzie Swan of Rockton,
Illinois and graduate of a Chicago Library Science College to
classify the first group of books.
The
Committee on Rules reported that the name would be “The Galena
Public Library and Reading Room; that no anarchistic, atheistic
or immoral book shall be tolerated; that all well behaved
persons over 10 years of age shall be entitled to the free use
of Reading Room; that no person having any contagious disease be
allowed in the library
and that perfect quiet must be maintained in the Reading
Room.”
A public
ceremony at Turner Hall on January 3, 1895--B.F. Felt’s 74th
birthday-- officially opened the library to the public.
The Gazette reported: “All in the hall rose in a silent
but nevertheless eloquent testimonial of appreciation of Mr.
Felt’s munificence. The
exercise closed with one verse of the National Hymn “My
Country ‘tis
of thee.”
Miss
Julia Jones was hired first Librarian who served until 1903.
The library was open every day but only the Reading Room
on Sundays. The original library card ledger separated men and women on
separate pages with David Sheean signing for the first card;
Librarian Julia Jones, second; and B.F. Felt, founder, third.
The
first book checked was by W.H. Tippet of East Galena, House
of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The public was not allowed to roam the bookshelves, but
could purchase for $.10 a catalog of books available and the
librarian would retrieve it, a practice followed until 1899.
A report
by Miss Jones for the first five months of operation reveals
that the library possessed 2386 books; lost 0; cards issued
1148; visitors 20,243! Also
available were five daily papers, nineteen weekly’s and
twenty-eight monthly’s. Disbursements
totaled $118.90, Receipts $144.07, leaving on hand $25.17.
The Trustees directed that on the 94th page of
every book the words “Public Library, Galena, Illinois” be
stamped, because the library was founded in 1894.
The
“Gazette” hoped, however, that “the public will no doubt
in short time begin to vary their light dishes of fiction with
the more substantial food of solid literature.”
A similar reaction came from a Trustees report to the
City Council in 1896; “…some plan could be devised to encourage readers to take
less fiction and more books of history, literature and science.
Springfield fiction accounts for 56% of books borrowed,
Galena’s is 87%”.
Henry H.
Kohlsaat of Galena, who became a wealthy newspaper editor in
Chicago, is responsible for the library receiving the famous
Thomas Nast painting “Peace in Union” of General Lee’s
surrender to General Grant at Appomattox in 1865.
Kohlsaat paid Nast $10,000 for the painting, plus $500
for the frame. In
public ceremony at Turner Hall in 1895, Nast and Kohlsaat
presented the painting to the City of Galena, after which it was
displayed upstairs of the Post Office.
The painting now hangs in the Galena History Museum on
Bench Street.
By the
late 1890’s, with the Library overcrowded and the budget
tight, the Board of Trustees admonished the City Council,
saying, “we hope that you will hereafter come to a better
appreciation of the value to the public, and especially to the
poor of the public, of a free library in Galena, and change your
attitude towards the Library by appropriating all that can and
should be by the original proposal of B.F. Felt to the City for
the Library.”
Starting in 1895, the Galena Public Library and reading room
resided in the 2nd floor rooms of the Post Office,
called then the Customs House of Federal Building.
This first library was due primarily to the effort and
resources of Benjamin Franklin Felt, a prominent citizen and
local banker. The
library public grew rapidly and space for the books and reading
room was crowded almost immediately.
David Sheean, a prominent local attorney who had become the
dynamic President of the Library Board of Trustees a year after
the library opened, had been talking with B.F. Felt as well as
the Galena City Government about the need for a new library well
before 1900.
The driving force behind the new library project was David
Sheean, but the money came from the B.F. Felt Estate, B.F.
having died in 1899, and B.F.’s daughter, Anna Felt.
David would continue as President until his death in
1920, but Anna Felt would be the real leader of the library from
her appointment to the Board of Trustees in 1894 until her death
in 1953. It would
not be stretching the historical truth to call the Galena Public
Library today the B.F. and Anna Felt Memorial Library.
But back to the new library beginnings.
David Sheean had contacted the great benefactor, Andrew
Carnegie, about a library grant to Galena.
In 1905, Carnegie offered $12,500 if a site was furnished
and if the city taxes would maintain the completed library.
The B. F. Felt estate, through Anna, offered to match the
Carnegie offer plus provide land for the library.
The City of Galena accepted all offers with some
hesitation. Three
of the 8 aldermen voted against the gifts saying they didn’t
want to burden the taxpayers.
The newspaper said of one objector, “Ald. Murley has
gone up in the air. If
someone will express a wish he stay there we will cheerfully
say, “Amen”.
Identifying a specific site became the talk of the town for
a few weeks. David
Sheean and Library Board of Trustees as well as the city
government agreed that Grant Park was a good location.
The three “flats”, or today’s entrances off Park
Avenue, were mentioned. Objectors
thought crossing the railroad tracks was hazardous and smoke
from the Water Works Building was unacceptable, but Sheean
pointed out that these were not obstacles to enjoying Grant Park
without a library.
It became moot
when someone pointed out a state law that a public building
couldn’t be placed in a public park without a city-wide
referendum. That
ended talk of Grant Park as a location.
The Library
Board quickly compiled a list of seven alternate sites for the
library; two on
Main Street and five on Bench Street.
The two Main Street locations included a corner at Main
and Meeker Streets as well as a lot “with the Gazette
billboards next to McKeague’s Livery Barn”.
Bench Street
possibilities included a lot across from the Baptist Church (Odd
Fellows, today), a lot at Hill and Bench (Firehouse today), 2
others and the site finally chosen, the Mrs. Clara Newhall home
lot.
The Main Street
sites were ruled out primarily due to floods, and also Main
Street was “where most of the loafing was done”.
The newspaper pointed out that the Main Street location
“contained six saloons and children and young girls would
necessarily meet this loafing element”.
Anna Felt not only paid for the library lot and was
instrumental in its choice, but stipulated that any site “must
be viewed from the heart of town”.
To ensure its viewing from Main Street and from train
passengers across the river, Anna also purchased property in
front of the library from Bench to Main Street which became
known as Library Park.
There was only one objection to the location in that it was
not centrally located downtown, but others pointed out that that
could in fact be an advantage and anyway “was only a 3 minute
walk from the Post Office”.
Amazingly, parking was not an issue at this time.
Two homes were felled to build the library. The Newhall family home, a beautiful frame mansion built by
Charles Hempstead was razed, as well as the Rochford family home
attached to the Stahl home (still standing).
Anna paid for windows to be cut and added to the Stahl
House north side.
The new library was built of Indiana limestone in the
Classical Greek architecture preferred by Andrew Carnegie.
Claude & Starch of Madison, Wis. were the architects.
Excavation began on the new library on October 8, 1906 and
the cornerstone was laid, appropriately for Galena, on President
Grant’s birthday, April 27, 1907.
The cornerstone itself is twice the size of all other
building stones and Anna Felt helped place it into position.
Silver trowel and mallets were used in laying the
cornerstone. The
silver was combined with wood handles cut from trees planted by
Grant while living at his High Street home before the Civil War.
The
cornerstone holds a copper box 8” x 12” x 6” and it is
full of neat stuff, including:
v
roster of city officers
v
roster of Library Board of Trustees
v
a few coins
v
pictures of Mr. & Mrs. B.F. Felt and daughter
Anna
v
architects drawing of soon-to-be-completed library
v
picture of Library Board President David Sheean
v
picture of view of Galena
v
2 U. S. Flags
v
piece of wood from Old Stockade
v
2 newspapers
A
newspaper selling advertising for the paper to go into the box
said “you had better make sure that your name goes into that
copper box, for it may be that otherwise it will be quite
forgotten in 75 or 100 years”.
Dedication
of the completed Galena Public Library took place on
Independence Day, July 4, 1908.
The Galena High School band played and Anna gave them $50
to split amongst themselves.
Speeches were given by Mayor Sheere(r?) and School Board
President Jim Nack. B.F.
Felt, Jr. gave keys for the library to David Sheean. The new library was opened for the public.
The
first new book for the library was Crain’s Standard
American RR System Atlas of the World. The
basement, or lower level, included an assembly room
(auditorium), classroom and work room,
Upstairs was the children’s room, reading room and
delivery (checkout) room. The
Tiffany type fireplaces were a gift from Emma Robb, originator
of children’s story-hour and a family friend of the Felts.
The wrought iron stacks were original to the old Post
Office library. Citizens
whispered that the library was built without book stacks built
into the rooms to discourage hiding places for young people with
romantic ideas.
The
newspaper referred to the “new Galena Felt-Carnegie
Library”. The
costs of the building, lots, endowments, etc. to initiate the
new library was nearly $60,000 of which Carnegie gave $12,500.
The Felts gave the rest.
On
October 4, 1907, the newspaper printed “Arrangements have been
made with the Sheriff to be on hand this eve to arrest any boy
or girl who disturbs the quiet of the room”. The next month the reading room rules were changed to bar
children under 15 years of age after 6 p.m. due to disturbances.
In
May of 1908 the library advertised for fill for Library Park
between Bench and Riverside (Major Street) because a team of
horses and buggy had “fallen off” Bench Street to the lower
level. The drop was
filled and concrete steps were added in 1913.
The
new library was noted for its fine guest lecturers in the lower
level auditorium. It
was determined after the new library became operational that
more books were being checked out than had been at the old
library, but the reading room had fewer visitors.
Could it have had to do with those noisy kids the Sheriff
was looking for?
A
$25 reward was offered in 1908 for information as to who may
have vandalized the cornerstone inscriptions.
A newspaper editorial questioned whether an iron fence
was needed around the library.
During
the Great War in 1917-18 the library closed a few times due to a
fuel shortage. Coal
was going toward the war effort.
Three days warning resulted in 1000 books checked out
before the closings and circulation actually increased for those
years. The library
closed periodically in 1919 due to childhood disease scares.
One Library Board Member opened his business office on
Main Street and the librarians checked books from there. Many library books were also sent to the school for
circulation at that difficult time.
Library
Board of Trustees President David Sheean died in June, 1920 and
the library lost one of its three indispensable founders.
B. F. Felt had died in 1899, but Anna Felt would go on
almost forever, until 1953, leading the library to its present
position of respect in this community. Of course, many Trustees, librarians and patrons have
contributed to its success, including its present leaders.
In
June, 1920, the Library Board asked the City Council, “Why,
with a population of 5000, only 1900 have library cards?
Will you help us find the reason why every man, woman and
child in Galena is not using the public library for recreation,
study and past time”.
Please
visit your historic library it’s wonderful!
|
