Tales of Branch Libraries Past: The Tatnuck Branch

You may know of the Burncoat, Roosevelt, Goddard, and Tatnuck Magnet branches, located in four of Worcester's public elementary schools and opened a little more than a decade ago, but did you know that one of these schools previously housed a book delivery station-turned-branch that officially existed for roughly fifty years? Today's blog post will feature the Tatnuck Branch, which closed in 1990, but reemerged in 2013 as the Tatnuck Magnet Branch.

Pamphlet circa 1975

Note: the name of the Tatnuck Magnet School has changed over the years, from the Tatnuck School to the Tatnuck Grammar School to the Tatnuck Elementary School, to most recently the Tatnuck Magnet School. We will use the name of the school as it appeared in the news depending on the year.

In the Beginning

We have previously detailed the use of book delivery systems throughout the expanding city of Worcester to serve the needs of the residents who lived far from the Elm Street library. While most of the delivery stations were housed in shops, a couple were located in private houses. The first delivery station to be located in the Tatnuck section was housed in the home of Miss E.J. Prentiss, at 725 Pleasant Street. Miss Prentiss and the other delivery station keepers would receive $50 per year to fulfill their duties.

Of course, there were limits to the usefulness of delivery stations in comparison to official branches. The funding of three branches by Andrew Carnegie sparked interest in creating other branches in the city. Less than a week after Carnegie and his wife attended the cornerstone laying ceremonies at the South Worcester, Quinsigamond, and Greendale branches in March 1913, the Tatnuck Woman's Club and other members of the Tatnuck neighborhood submitted a petition to the City Clerk to use the old Tatnuck school as a branch library (the old Tatnuck school had suffered from overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions (and a wily skunk!*) before being abandoned in favor of a newly built school building in 1910). 

Tatnuck Residents Hanker After a Branch Library in Old Schoolhouse,
Worcester Telegram, March 29, 1913

Alas, the residents were unable to secure an actual branch library at that time but did receive a new deposit station in the new Tatnuck school in 1914 under the command of the library's children's department. According to the Annual Report ending November 30, 1914, the school deposit meant that the library could essentially bring a branch to the school once a week with library assistants coming to help students and teachers choose, borrow, and return library books. According to head librarian Robert K. Shaw, "We were glad to open this deposit because of the great interest shown in the neighborhood, and the remoteness from the central library."

The opening of the school deposit did not stop the clamor for a full library branch. Tatnuck residents continued to petition the library board of directors and the city for a branch, including a petition in 1931, but the board did not request funds from the city for a branch that year. The next year was more productive - the city appropriated $4,000 to fund a library in a schoolroom at the Tatnuck school. The basement space would have to suffice until the library could secure a more permanent location for a branch. On May 24, 1932, a new "Tatnuck Book Station" (unofficially called a branch in some of the newspapers) opened to serve both adults and children. It would be open two days a week with separate hours for adults and children, with Mrs. Dorothy Stedman in charge of the children's section. Head librarian Robert K. Shaw called its opening "the most important event in the Library year" in the 1933 Annual Report. 

Branch Library Opens Tomorrow, Worcester Telegram, May 23, 1932

Of course, the Great Depression made it difficult to fund the construction of a branch building in the 1930s. According to a September 14, 1935 article in the Worcester Evening Gazette, the Tatnuck Men's Club was against the expense of building a branch library and felt that the "city should spend money only for what is essential."

By 1938, Tatnuck residents signed additional petitions with suggestions for building a new branch library at specific locations, including the historic Benjamin Newton house at 1125 Pleasant Street and another suggestion for the land at the corner of Coppersfield Road and Pleasant Street (across the street from the new Tatnuck school). Alas, once again funding was an issue. John H. Mahoney of the Worcester Taxpayer's Association declared in a Tatnuck Citizen's Association meeting in April 1938 that "city finances [were] in critical condition" and that a library branch was nonessential.

Petition to the City Council Re: Acquiring Property to Build a New Tatnuck Branch, March 25, 1938

The Start of the Official Tatnuck Branch

By September 1941, the library had reorganized the book station at the Tatnuck school as an actual branch that was open three days a week. The Tatnuck Branch remained open even when the winter 1945 coal shortage forced the closure of many of the Worcester public schools (including Tatnuck school) because the branch had its own independent heating system. The branch temporarily moved to the first floor of the school in January 1954 when the school began construction on a six-room addition and moved back to the basement in August of the same year.

Unfortunately, the branch did not benefit from the school's renovation. In 1955, the Worcester Telegram quoted head librarian Thurston Taylor proclaiming the Tatnuck Branch as the "'neglected step-child' of the library system" due to the new addition blocking off window access on one side of the room and therefore limiting ventilation. By the 1960s, the branch's lack of ventilation, storage space, staff room, and work space forced the library board to examine potential options for relocating the Tatnuck Branch.  

The Search for a New Library Building

Over the next decade, the library board studied several potential locations in the Tatnuck neighborhood for a new branch but none panned out. By 1972, the Tatnuck Branch was the busiest library branch in Worcester but encompassed only 684 square feet. In May 1972, the board asked the city to purchase the vacant lot at Pleasant and Mower Streets previously occupied by the Tatnuck House restaurant that was demolished after a fire. However, a subsidiary of the Consumers Savings Bank also signed a lease for the same lot at this time. The City Council was undeterred by the lease and voted to ask City Manager Francis J. McGrath to start eminent domain proceedings to take that property. At the same time, the city's Planning Board had recommended building a new branch at Pleasant Street and Howe Avenue, 400 yards from the current Tatnuck Branch. A June 15, 1972 editorial in the Worcester Telegram even questioned the necessity of having a new branch at all, let alone one at what they deemed a poor location at Pleasant and Mower Streets. During the same year, the First Congregational Church refused to sell their parking lot at Pleasant Street and Howe Avenue and the library board rejected two offers of other properties for the new branch.

Worcester Evening Gazette, May 17, 1972

A new proposed plan emerged in September 1973: if the state Banking Commission approved the Consumers Savings Bank's proposal to open a bank branch at Pleasant and Mower Streets, the bank would build the bank branch with an adjacent facility leased by the city for the new Tatnuck Branch. Unfortunately by December 1973, City Manager Francis J. McGrath rejected that plan because the bank wouldn't let the city own the library portion of the building once the lease expired.

Site Proposed for Bank, Worcester Telegram, September 30, 1973

Life at the Tatnuck Branch continued in the 1970s even as additional plans for a new branch were proposed and rejected. Space was so tight in the early 1970s that spring children's programs were held outdoors, weather permitting. The repainting of the branch did allow staff to rearrange the collection and furniture in 1975, although there still wasn't much room for seating. Children did enjoy the story times, as seen by the wide-eyed looks in the newspaper clipping below. In November 1976, the Staff Newsletter reported that the Story Hour was being held in the Faculty Women's Lounge at the school, "which permit[ed] new activities (like moving and breathing)."

Circa 1974

Circa 1975

Every Thursday It Happens, Worcester Evening Gazette, October 2, 1975

By the late 1970s, there were discussions of expanding the Tatnuck Branch at the Tatnuck Elementary School in lieu of relocating to a brand new library branch elsewhere in the neighborhood. The city's financial situation in 1977 had forced City Manager McGrath to deny a request for a new branch building for the third year in a row. In the meantime, part of the school nurse's room was given to the branch for a work and staff area. 

Circa 1978

Branch on the Move

Finally, in 1979, the City Council voted to ask the School Committee to make room in the Tatnuck Elementary School that would be more accessible and spacious than the small basement branch and City Manager McGrath agreed to make funds available. 

In December 1981, the newly expanded Tatnuck Branch opened on the first floor of the Tatnuck Elementary School. The $100,000 conversion allowed the new space to be triple the size of the basement branch, with more seating for patrons, and allowed it to be "more separate" from the school. The Friends of the Worcester Public Library donated a nearly $5,000 air conditioner for the branch. The Children's Librarian of the branch, Denise M. Dutil, wrote a letter published in the January 14, 1982 issue of the Worcester Telegram thanking the sixty students at the school who assisted with moving over 1,000 bags of books to the new space. The official rededication of the space came in September 1982. 

Branch Library Tripled in Size, Worcester Telegram, December 2, 1981

The End...

Of course, municipal budget cuts hit the Worcester Public Library in the next year and branch hours were reduced at several of the branches, including the Tatnuck Branch. By 1990, the Proposition 2 1/2 budget cuts loomed over the branches, with the threat of closing all branches and reducing hours at the Main Library. Even though over 100 people participated in the April 5, 1990 protest outside of the Tatnuck Branch, it could not stop the closures. The last program held at the Tatnuck Branch was a story time presented to the kindergarten students of the West Tatnuck Elementary School on May 11, 1990. The branches closed their doors in May 1990 (as previously mentioned, Great Brook Valley Branch opened soon after and the Greendale Branch opened two years later). 

"Last Program at Tatnuk [sic], May 11, 1990"

But Wait...There's More!

Over twenty years later, a public library branch sparked to life in the Tatnuck section of Worcester. In June 2013, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette excitedly reported on the new pilot program, "One City, One Library," where four elementary schools would each house a children's branch library. In recent years, the number of schools with professionally staffed school libraries had diminished. In fact, many elementary schools had done away with their libraries entirely. The first branch to be announced would be held at the Tatnuck Magnet School, which at that point had a school library organized by parent volunteers. 

Four City Elementary Schools, Library in Literacy Partnership, Worcester Telegram & Gazette,
June 16, 2013

These OCOL branches would be staffed by Worcester Public Library staff and would be open to the students, teachers, and other staff during the school day but fully open to the community during afternoons and school vacations. The other three branches were the Roosevelt Branch at the Roosevelt School, the Goddard Branch at the Goddard School of Science & Technology, and the Burncoat Branch at the Burncoat Street Preparatory School.

The new Tatnuck Magnet Branch held its grand opening on November 20, 2013. It was the second One City, One Library branch to open (after the Roosevelt Branch).

Worcester Telegram & Gazette, December 6, 2013

Tatnuck Magnet Branch circa 2014

The Tatnuck Magnet Branch is currently open to the public for summer 2025 hours at 1083 Pleasant Street in Worcester. See https://www.mywpl.org/tatnuck-magnet-branch for up-to-date hours. 

Exterior of Tatnuck Magnet Branch, August 2025

*In case you were curious about the wily skunk from 1910, here's two headlines from the Worcester Telegram:

Worcester Telegram, January 11, 1910

Worcester Telegram, January 29, 1910

Sources:

"Branch Library Opens Tomorrow." (1932, May 23). Worcester Telegram, p. 2.

"Discuss Question of Tatnuck Library." (1935, September 14). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 9.

Dutil, D.M. (1982, January 14). Worcester Telegram, p. 8.

Eames, R.B. & L.J. Merkel. (1972, June 14)."Landtaking Bid OK'd for Tatnuck Library." Worcester Telegram, p. 21.

"Every Thursday It Happens." (1975, October 2). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 20.

"Expansion in the Works for Library at Tatnuck." (1979, October 25). Worcester Telegram, p. 12.

"Filling a Vacant Lot." (1972, June 15). Worcester Telegram, p. 4.

Foskett, Jr., S.H. (2013, June 16). "Four City Elementary Schools, Library in Literacy Partnership // One City, One Library to Set Up Branches." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. B4.

"Librarian to Recommend 1-Day Cut at Tatnuck Branch." (1982, October 22,). Worcester Evening Gazette, p.8.

"Library Asks City to Buy Land for Tatnuck Branch." (1972, May 10). Worcester Telegram, p. 19.

"Library Board Still Plans New Branch at Tatnuck Square." (1972, May 13). Worcester Telegram, p. 13.

"Library Branch Open." (1945, January 31). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 5.

"Library at Tatnuck is Opened to Public." (1932, May 25). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 11.

"Library to Move." (1954, August 24). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 28.

"Library to Push for Tatnuck Branch." (1976, January 14). Worcester Telegram, p. 21.

"Library to Seek New Tatnuck Branch." (1975, June 12). Worcester Telegram, p. 23.

"Library Staff Turnover 33% in '54." (1955, February 11). Worcester Telegram, p. 2.

"Mahoney Opposes Tatnuck Library." (1938, April 27). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 11.

McKie, L.R. (1973, September 28). "Tatnuck Library Plan Offered." Worcester Telegram, p. 1.

Merkel, L.J. (1972, June 16). "City Offered Gift of Land as Site of Tatnuck Library." Worcester Telegram, p. 19.

"New Tatnuck Branch Listed in Library Board Projects." (1976, March 13). Worcester Telegram, p. 10.

"Newton House Petition Signed." (1938, February 17). Worcester Telegram, p. 5.

Parlett, D. (1981, November 11). "Library Faces Budget Bind Despite Slash in Energy Use." Worcester Telegram, p. 3.

"Proposal for Tatnuck Library Rejected." (1973, December 16). Worcester Telegram, p. 41.

"Public Library Hours Announced." (1941, September 6). Worcester Telegram, p. 9.

"Public Library Stations." (1898, May 7). Worcester Telegram, p. 3.

"Residents Ask for Branch Libraries." (1931, February 2). Worcester Telegram, p. 7.

Stanway, E. (2013, December 6). "Turning a New Page for Young Readers - Library Branch Opens at Tatnuck Magnet." Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

"Tatnuck Branch Library Rededication is Tonight." (1982, September 22). Worcester Telegram, p. 16.

"Tatnuck Library Closed Today." (1954, January 2). Worcester Telegram, p. 8.

"Tatnuck Library Site Suggested." (1938, March 9). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 7.

"Tatnuck Soon to Get Library." (1932, April 13). Worcester Telegram, p. 1.

"Upgrading Pledged at Tatnuck Library." (1977, March 11). Worcester Telegram, p. 24.