Tales of Branch Libraries Past: The Quinsigamond Branch

We have previously highlighted the history of the Frances Perkins Branch Library (formerly known as the Greendale Branch) and the now-closed South Worcester Branch, but what do you know about the third branch library that was funded by steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie? Behold, the Quinsigamond Branch, a beloved branch located at 812 Millbury Street whose building found a new life after it closed in 1990.

Quinsigamond Branch Library - Children's Area, circa 1940s

The Backstory

Library services first officially came to Quinsigamond Village in May 1898 when the city council funded eight delivery stations around the expanding city, including a delivery station housed in Anderson Bros. (a men's furnishing goods store) at 882 Millbury Street. By 1910, Mayor James Logan requested funds from Andrew Carnegie to build three library branches and received communication from Carnegie's representative agreeing to contribute $25,000 each for three branches with the condition that the city provided the properties and contributed a maintenance fund.

The American Steel & Wire Co., a major employer in the Quinsigamond Village community, deeded land to the city for the creation of the Quinsigamond Branch in 1911. The branch would be located next to the Quinsigamond Street School at the corner of Millbury and Stebbins Streets. By November 1912, the city sent plans for the three branches to Andrew Carnegie, including the Quinsigamond Branch plans drafted by the architect company Fuller & Delano Co. After the plans were approved, eight contractors bid for the contract to construct the Quinsigamond Branch with John J. Power winning the contract with the lowest bid of $20,800.

As we wrote in previous blog posts, Andrew Carnegie and his wife visited Worcester on March 26, 1913 to lay the cornerstones at the three branches. Quinsigamond Branch hosted the second ceremony of the day, which was immediately preceded by Carnegie's unexpected but necessary stop at the First Cooperative grocery store to purchase weatherproof shoes for himself on that muddy March day. 

Carnegie Invests Part of Fortune for Little Rubbers in Quinsigamond, Worcester Telegram,
March 27, 1913

The Worcester Evening Gazette wrote about the features of the almost completed building in their August 2, 1913 issue. For instance, the one-story Quinsigamond Branch was designed in the Grecian style, with a Barrington (RI) brick facade and Indiana limestone trimmings. The right side of the building would house the reading room and the left side would house the reference and children's reading rooms.

Quinsigamond Branch Library Nearly Ready, Worcester Evening Gazette, August 2, 1913

Six months later, the new branch was ready to open to the public. Approximately 200 people attended the dedication on the evening of February 23, 1914, with speeches from Judge F.H. Chamberlain of the library board of trustees; Head Librarian Robert K. Shaw; Reverend Carl A Seaberg of the Quinsigamond Swedish Methodist Church; and George Rugg, the principal of the neighboring Quinsigamond Street School. The branch opened for business the following day, with Miss Madeline Bell at the helm. 

Opens Library to Public at Quinsigamond, Worcester Telegram, February 24, 1914

The Early Years

In February 1916, Miss Bell transferred to the Main Library to be the head of the children's department and Miss Cecile Houghton, formerly a cataloging librarian at the Main Library, took over as head of the Quinsigamond Branch. Miss Houghton, who would be in charge of the branch for 12 years before departing to the Greendale Branch in 1928, was instrumental in making the library a welcoming place for the community during those early years. For instance, in 1916, the branch opened during the noon hour because the employees of the nearby American Steel & Wire Co. asked to be able to visit the library during their dinner break.

During the first couple of decades, the branch catered to the large Swedish population in Quinsigamond Village by providing regularly published newspapers and books in Swedish (originally printed in Swedish as well as books translated from English). The library also offered canning and bread-making demonstrations for the Polish and Lithuanian women in the neighborhood. By 1938, the Worcester Evening Gazette reported that the Quinsigamond Branch carried books in four foreign languages. 

Bread Demonstration to be Given in Quinsig, Worcester Telegram, April 4, 1919

The children in the neighborhood, including the elementary school children at the school next door, visited the library to read books, attend programs, participate in contests, and even perform in plays! Librarians organized a boys' library club and a girls' library club within two years of the opening of the branch to help keep the neighborhood children off the streets and out of trouble. One highlight of the Quinsigamond Branch in 1923 was a pair of performances of the Library Girls' Club production of "Helga and the White Peacock" by Cornelia Meigs. Proceeds were allocated to purchasing an "object of art" for the library. Miss Houghton helped coach the young actors and helped design the costumes.

"Library Girls' Club Dramatics - The White Peacock - Meigs," 1923

One hugely popular long-running program held at the Quinsigamond Branch for 35 years was the annual Doll Festival inspired by the Japanese tradition. The branch held this event every year from 1919 to 1955 where librarians would read stories to the children and little girls would bring their dolls to exhibit. Prizes were awarded for several categories, including a category of dolls wearing clothes made by the doll's owner; rag dolls; baby dolls; dolls from other countries or unusual dolls; dolls over 24" high, and dolls under 24" high.

Winners at Doll Festival, Worcester Sunday Telegram, March 29, 1942

Library is 48 Years Old, Worcester Evening Gazette, April 3, 1961

Fast Forward to the 1970s...

And so life at the library continued, until municipal budget cuts in 1976 affected the Quinsigamond Branch like the rest of Worcester Public Library. The Quinsigamond Branch closed for two months starting in June 1976 in preparation for the relocation of the regional film library and talking book service from the Main Library. The regular public library space at the branch would be a quarter of its previous size after the renovations but the reconfiguration of the branch to the new Film and Talking Book Library would help keep the branch open with more hours than the previous year. The regional film service was available to Worcester County residents ages 18+ and as of 1977, contained 1850 titles (which at the time ran on film projectors). A second regional film service was housed at the Fitchburg Public Library.

Film Service is Doing Brisk Business, Worcester Evening Gazette, August 26, 1977

The Talking Book Library (which officially started in 1973 at the Main Library and will be the subject of a future blog post!) served the blind and physically handicapped residents of the then-70 towns in the Central Massachusetts Regional Library System. The Main Library added a public service area for patrons of the Talking Book Library in 1983. 

Quinsigamond Branch, circa 1978

Both of the regional film collections at Quinsigamond Branch and at the Fitchburg Public Library consolidated when they moved to an office in Holden in 1986. The Talking Book Library also moved in 1986 from the Quinsigamond Branch to the Main South Branch building when Main South Branch opened in its new location. The relocation of the film collection and the Talking Book Library, along with additional funding made it possible to eventually resume more public library services at the Quinsigamond Branch but the library was forced to decrease the number of hours that it was open.

The End of the Quinsigamond Branch...and New Beginnings

The end of the Quinsigamond Branch came in 1990 when all of the Worcester Public Library branches closed due to the Proposition 2 1/2 budget cuts. The Quinsigamond Branch never reopened as a library, unlike the Great Brook Valley Branch, which reopened within a couple of months and the Greendale Branch (now known as the Frances Perkins Branch), which reopened in 1992. Initially, the University of Massachusetts Cooperative Service Extension leased the building for a period of time. Then in February 1993, the Worcester Public Library board voted to turn the former branch property over to the city so that the new Quinsigamond School could be built using that property. The original Quinsigamond School had closed at the end of the 1992-1993 school year due to physical deterioration and the neighborhood desperately needed a new school building. 

However, there was a hitch in the plans to build the new school: the Quinsigamond Branch (and the other two Carnegie branches in Worcester) had been added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 1980. It turns out that there are rules in place for when people want to alter or even demolish a building that is on the National Register of Historic Places. In this case, the city needed to submit an environmental impact report on the new building project to the state Environmental Protection Agency unless they could secure a waiver. In the meantime, Preservation Worcester and other advocates called for the preservation of the historic library branch building. The waiver was denied in August 1993 and the new school building project delayed (in the meantime, students attended the Vernon Street School). 

Quinsig School Battle Flares Again, Worcester Magazine, January 5, 1994

In January 1994, Preservation Worcester announced they would not block the building of the school, although they hoped that the library branch building could be incorporated into the design instead of being demolished. In March of the same year, the city announced they had reached a deal that would incorporate the library branch building's shell and a section of the old Quinsigamond School into the new school building design. In return, the city would not have to file a supplemental environmental impact report or go through an appeal process. Construction on the new Quinsigamond School began in 1995 and the new school building finally opened in the fall of 1997, with the historic Quinsigamond Branch building's shell incorporated into the new structure as a cafeteria.

Quinsigamond Branch Library, circa 2011, Image credit: Pvmoutside

Sources:

"Branch Plans Present are Sent to Andrew Carnegie." (1912, November 16). Worcester Telegram, p. 1.

"Bread Demonstration to be Given in Quinsig." (1919, April 4). Worcester Telegram, p. 2.

Bunnewith, M.J. (1994, January 22). "Preservation Group Won't Block School." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. A2.

"Carnegie Invests Part of Fortune for Little Rubbers in Quinsigamond." (1913, March 27). Worcester Telegram, p. 16.

Collier, G.A. (1991, November 1). "Library Offering to Rent Two Libraries." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. A2.

Crockett, W. (1994, January 5). "Quinsig School Battle Flares Again." Worcester Magazine, p. 7.

Farson, S. (1979, September 9). "Films a Major Library Service." Worcester Telegram, p. 28.

"Film Collection to be Relocated." (1976, June 19). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 8.

"Girls Library Club." (1916, March 10). Worcester Telegram, p. 2.

Hammel, L. (1994, March 15). "New Plan Spares Quinsig Library \ School Proposal OK for Now." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. B1.

"'Helga and the White Peacock' Wins Its Juvenile Audience to Smiles and Tears." (1923, May 23). Worcester Telegram, p. 4.

Kotsopoulos, N. (1993, February 17). "'Hub Suburb' Notion Rankles \ Council Brittles at OMB Changes." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. B1.

Lazure, L. (1977, August 26). "Film Service is Doing Brisk Business." Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 8.

"Librarian is Given Farewell Luncheon." (1928, February 9). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 14.

"Mayor Approves Library Contract." (1913, February 1). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 3.

"Miss Cecile Houghton is Appointed Head of the Branch Library at Quinsigamond." (1916, February 20). Worcester Sunday Telegram, p. 12.

Nangle, R. (1993, August 25). "Durkin School Waiver Denied." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. B1.

"Opens Library to Public at Quinsigamond." (1914, February 24). Worcester Telegram, p. 1.

"Polish-Speaking Women to Get Demonstration." (1918, July 31). Worcester Telegram, p. 6.

"Public Library Contains Books in 24 Languages." (1938, July 16). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 13.

"Quinsigamond Branch Library Nearly Ready." (1913, August 2). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 13.

"Quinsigamond Library to be Open During the Noon Hour." (1916, October 11). Worcester Telegram, p. 2.

"Winners at Doll Festival." (1942, March 29). Worcester Sunday Telegram, p. 19.