The St. Joseph Public Library is celebrating its 125th year serving the citizens of St. Joseph.

To kick off the year of celebration, the St. Joseph Public Library Foundation is hosting a Fundraising Birthday Party Event at the East Hills Library on April 17 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

The Library said the event  is an adult program with a suggested donation at the door of $5.00.  Wine, hors d’oeuvres and birthday cake will be served. The Foundation is raffling off a signed copy of Old Saint Jo: Gateway to the West by Sheridan Logan. The Friends of the St. Joseph Public Library are holding a mini book sale and hosting a themed book basket silent auction. Proclamations will be read at 6:00 p.m. and Librarian Will Stuck will talk about sharing stories.

On April 18, 1890 the citizens of St. Joseph voted to establish a tax-supported public library. The initiative was so popular that it passed with a margin of six to one. In 1890, the St. Joseph Public Library opened with 5,510 books, mostly donated by the St. Joseph Library Association which was a subscription library established in 1887.
That first building was at 6th and Charles, but it wasn’t long before it was outgrown and the library moved to a building at 10th & Sylvanie Streets that later became the Heaton-Bowman Funeral Home. The library outgrew its second home and opened at 927 Felix

Street in March 1902. It has been called the Central Library, the Main Library and today we call it the Downtown Library. One of the unique things about the Downtown Library is that it was built by the St. Joseph School District as a joint School District Administration Building and Public Library. The building still houses both the School District Administration and St. Joseph Public Library, though we have always been and continue to be, two separate entities. We have been tenants for nearly 120 years and our rent consists of paying our portion of the utilities in the building.

The Carnegie Library opened in December 1902 and was built with funds donated by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation on land that was donated by John Donovan. It’s one of the earliest branch libraries in Missouri right here in St. Joseph.

Speaking of libraries funded by the Carnegie Foundation, the Washington Park Library was opened in June 1910. Not many communities were honored with receiving funds from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for multiple branch libraries but St. Joseph was. Washington Park is in a lovely park and boasts two meeting rooms available for public use. St. Joseph is blessed with two historic Carnegie libraries that are vital to the neighborhoods in which they are located. St. Joseph is unique in that both of our Carnegie library buildings are still open as a libraries.

A little known fact about the library is that we once had three other branches. The Wyatt Park Branch was at 2633 Lafayette and was open from January 1925 to April 1933. The Francis Street Branch was at 704 Francis Street, only three blocks from the Downtown Library, and was only open from February 1925 to June 1926. The South Park Branch was at 1802 Commercial and was open from September 1927 to April 1933.

Renovations were done to the libraries at different times throughout the years, the most recent happening between 2001 and 2004 when the Carnegie, Downtown and Washington Park branches all underwent major renovations and repair. The purpose was to restore the buildings to their early 20th century beauty while equipping them for the 21st century.

Our newest branch opened in September 2004 and is the East Hills Library. It’s a building that looks and operates like a modern library, inside and out. This branch also has meeting rooms, one of which is a theater-style meeting room with 89 seats, a small stage, screen, sound and video equipment and looping technology for the hearing impaired.

When the St. Joseph Public Library opened in 1890 it offered books, newspapers and magazines for patrons. Today, we still have books, newspaper and magazines but they can be read in print, or on microfilm, or on the computer or a personal device. Books come in print, large print, hardback, paperback, electronic and audio that can either be on CD, an all-in-one-digital book or downloadable audio. You can also check out a movie or music from any of our branches. You can attend a meeting, watch a movie, hear about a topic of interest, make crafts or learn about local history and that’s just a rundown of our regular adult programming at the library. Check out our calendar on our website at sjpl.lib.mo.us to find out about the almost daily programming that happens at the library for all ages.

Need to file your taxes but don’t have a computer? Come to the library. Need to hop on a wireless connection to send a quick email? Stop on by. Do you need to improve your computer skills? Yes, the public library is the place to get help.
The public library is still, and we believe, always will be, an essential part of our community and a place for you – our citizens to come and visit. The St. Joseph Public Library is going strong after 125 years and we’d love for you to come and help us celebrate that fact on April 17th.
# # #