When the Worcester Public Library Came to Town: The First Year

In 1959, 100 years after the Worcester City Council accepted Dr John Green’s 7,000-volume donation establishing the Worcester Public Library, my mother and I walked down to the Quinsigamond branch and applied for my first card.  I was four years old and very proud.  It occurred neither to me, nor to my parents, however, that I was doing anything out of the ordinary. After all, all of the adults I knew all carried library cards in their wallets and most communities in the United States, be it at the town or county level, supported a public library, many of them, like WPL’s Greendale branch, built with funds provided by industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

That was not the case, however, in 1859.  At that time Worcester boasted many libraries, the American Antiquarian Society with its 30,000 volumes among them. Many organizations and associations offered libraries for the use of their members, and many prominent families maintained extensive private collections.  So, as I asked in my previous posting, what was the big deal about the new Worcester Free Public Library?  The very fact that it was free and open to all of course.  In 1859 there was nothing commonplace about using public funds to maintain a library devoted to making information and yes, entertainment, available to all residents, taxpayers or no.  The first public library had been founded in Peterborough  New Hampshire just 30 years  before, and the first large public library, perhaps not surprisingly, Boston,  in 1848. So the opening of the Worcester Public Library on April 30 1860, was indeed a cause for celebration.  As incoming mayor Isaac Davis said in his inaugural address a few months later, “Thus in the short period of little more than a year, the city is possessed of a large and valuable library, open to all, high and low, rich and poor, native or foreign.”

 Initially, the library occupied a large hall on the 3^rd floor of the Worcester Bank Block on Foster Street.  By the end of its first year of operation, the library’s holdings comprised between 14,000 and 15, 000 volumes, incorporating the contents of the Green library, the library of the Worcester Lyceum, and the generous contributions of private citizens. During that time, patrons borrowed on average 153 volumes per day, and there were 3,200 registered users, with an increase of between 10 and 12 new registrants each day. The basic organizational structure of the library had been set in place by the end of 1860. WPL’s first head librarian, Zephiniah Baker had been hired at a salary of $500 per year, and his assistant, Miss C Barnes, at $250. A twelve-member Board of Directors, including Dr John Green (for life) and industrialist Stephen Salisbury had been appointed in January, three months before opening day.   According the library’s first annual report, the rules and regulations established by the Directors “have been as few and as simple as possible with a proper regard to the security and preservation of the books.”  Fines were levied for failure to return items on time, as well as for loss, but The Board specifically rejected a motion to require a deposit for each volume borrowed, preferring to trust in the “honor and integrity of borrowers and readers.”

From the beginning, the Foster Street location was intended to be temporary.  To that end, the city purchased a lot on Elm Street from community leader Emory Washburn at a cost of $5, 042 and immediately began construction of a new library building.  The cornerstone was laid on July 4^th 1860, accompanied by a series of celebratory events, including a banquet a Mechanics Hall, a military parade, and, best of all, “a balloon ascension”!  The building on Elm Street, which formally opened in 1861, remained the Worcester Public Library’s home for over 100 years until it was torn down and replaced by the Pearl Elm garage.  In 1964, the library moved into our current location, where many changes, adaptions, and renovations later, we remain, an integral part of our city’s cultural and educational landscape.