"Library started with debates, meager selection on shelves" from the June 10, 1976 Door County Advocate
Sturgeon Bay library in 1906
Library started with debates, meager selection on shelves
Interest in library services has been no johnny-come-lately to the citizens of Sturgeon Bay. More than 100 years ago, on Mar. 17, 1866, the Sturgeon Bay Library Assoc. was incorporated by an act of the state legislature.
The library association was an outgrowth of the Lyceum which had been formed in December, 1865 by about a dozen of the town's leading business and professional men. The opening address by G. W. Allen, Esq. required a 10 cent admission fee, "ladies free" and the proceeds were to assist in establishing a library.
Debates throughout the winter "waxed warm" according to old reports and concerned the interests of the day, such as "Capital punishment should be abolished," "That women should vote" and "That the President of the United States should be impeached."
The library shelves contained numerous patent office reports and when scheduled combatants did not turn up readings from these, "recitations, essays and songs, but no prayer" were substituted.
There was a gradual decline in interest and the regular meetings died out about 1872 but a few die-hards continued to meet annually and elect themselves officers of the association. The library collection continued to grow until there were over 300 volumes on the shelves located in the old courthouse at the corner of Spruce and Main (presently Nebraska and Second). In addition to the patent office reports there were session laws, messages and documents and blue books donated through the offices of state and federal representatives.
In 1880 Charles L. Martin's "History of Door County" reported that "In 1879 an effort to revive the public meetings of the society was made. There were two entertainments, two fizzles and one smash. It was not for want of an appreciative audience, but for failure on the part of the appointed performers. At present, although there are no public meetings, the library association is thriving.
"Within a few weeks some 80 new volumes have been added to the library and the members can now entertain themselves with reading the writings of Irving, Hawthorne, Scott, Holland, George Elliot and many other standard authors. Anyone can become a permanent member of the society by paying three dollars in cash or by donating three dollars worth of books, or a temporary member by paying a smaller sum according to the time and depositing of the value of the book drawn. The society has in its treasury about seventy dollars which will shortly be invested in books."
The life members of the Sturgeon Bay Library Association were George Pinney, G.W. Allen, Henry Schuyler, R.M. Wright, H. Harris, D.A. Reed, D.H. Rice, J. Harris sr., John Garland, E.C. Daniels, E.M. Squire, J. Harris jr., A.M. Pierce, J. C. Pinney, E.E. Hoyt, E.S. Fuller, F.J. Hamilton, O.E. Druetzer, James McIntosh, H.T. Scudder, C.M. Smith, Charles Noyes, L.M. Sherman, J.H. Soper, C.L. Nelson, H.M. McNally, George Walker, George O. Spear, William A. Lawrence, Charles Scofield, George Prescott, Frank Dresser.
Again, for a period of time the library was inactive but about 1890 the library was revived and for a period of about five years the books were kept in the telephone exchange office. When that office was discontinued in 1897 books were stored over Washburn's old feed store and "suitable" ones were placed in the high school library until 1901.
At that time a group of Sturgeon Bay women influenced by the "agitation of the WCTU and the newspapers" decided to form "a club room, lunch room and literary room for the boys and men" and agreed to donate the necessary articles such as "one plate and cup and saucer, or one chair, or some other article toward the furnishing of such rooms and also to be ready to assist in furnishing toward the lunch, when called upon, until the same shall be self supporting."
The effort was short lived, opening on Mar 2, 1901 in the old Schuyler building then on Cedar St. and closing in August, 1901.
Efforts by Mrs. Y. V. Druetzer began in June, 1902 to urge Andrew Carnegie to contribute to construction of a library building. In 1905 the city joined the cause and voted $100 to help maintain the library and annual appropriations have been made since then.
After many contacts, in 1910 Carnegie agreed to donate the sum of $12,500 for the construction of a Carnegie library, the city council established an annual fund of $1250 for its maintenance and on May 1, 1913 the Carnegie library was dedicated.
From September, 1906 until then the library was situated in the Pinney Building. A west side branch was established in the Woerfel drug store (presently John's) in May, 1910.
The new library then was considered to be one of the finest in the state. The architectural beauty was greatly admired, the floor plan and picture of the building appeared in periodicals of the state commission and the building was used as a model for other libraries built in the state after 1913.
Old library now child care center —Alec Egeland
But in 1913 Sturgeon Bay had a population of 4262. There were 2673 books on the shelves with 249 added during that year when circulation reached 17,914.
In 1963, population had nearly doubled, the number of books totaled 15,736, 1188 were added during the year and total circulation had risen to 73,256. The library system was now county-wide with the county headquarters leasing space from the Sturgeon Bay branch. And the press was on for larger facilities.
In October, 1964 the library included $500 in its budget for building planning. The architectural firm of Boettcher and Ginnow, Inc., Neenah was hired to come up with a plan. $1500 was added to the 1966 budget to cover the cost of preliminary planning. In August 1967 a proposal to enlarge the original Carnegie quarters by a wrap-around addition at a cost of approximately $370,000 was turned down by the city council.
Efforts to encourage citizen participation were as persistent as they had been a half a century before but nothing seemed to move forward until October, 1970 when Mr. and Mrs. Gerhard Miller offered to fund an art center to be built in conjunction with a new library building and to turn over a collection of Miller's watercolors and other artifacts to be part of a permanent collection. The gift was contingent upon ground being broken by 1974.
Efforts accelerated. By now the wraparound plan had been discarded and it was felt a new building was needed. Sites were proposed. The favorite of the library board, Soukup Field, was not favored by the city council. Finally in early 1972 the board and council agreed on city-owned property at Fourth and Nebraska and a concentrated drive for private donations was begun by the Friends of Door County Libraries.
Vacation homeowners joined year-around residents throughout the county to meet the goal of $200,000. Resolutions were passed by both the county board and city council in 1973 agreeing to split the remaining two-thirds cost down the middle for the proposed $600,000 building. By October 1973 when contributions exceeded the original goal, building construction was under way and the building was first occupied the end of 1974.
Official dedication ceremonies were held in a week-long open house from January 19 through 25, 1975 and Gov. Patrick Lucey was on hand for the traditional ribbon cutting.
An invitational exhibit "Introduction to 25 Door County Painters" was the inaugural show in the Miller Art Center.
When librarian Gwen Runkle issued the 1975 annual report she could boast that circulation of library materials had increased 39 per cent over the previous year. There were 39,000 books on the shelves and a total of 97,128 volumes had been circulated. The facilities were in constant demand with 362 meetings held at the library in 1975, and it was now the hub of civic activities.
[author not stated]
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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