The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-09
LIBRARIAN CRUNDEN ON
SITE FOR PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Advances Cogent Arguments in Favor of Exposition Property as the
Most Desirable Location for Central misunderstanding
to the Masses-The Prime Consideration.

the central building, TO show that some
sites proposed are not the best, some are
undesirable and others not TO be seriously
considered l have shown. | trust. that TO
make the central library accessible TO resi-
aents or all sections Of the city il should
be located at the present time on sixth or
Seventh street. between Olive and Washing
ton avenue; but that looking reasonably TO
the future. 1t would be better 70 go to
lweiith street: that there is 10 apparent
poSsibiiity OF securing a site east Of Seven
teenfh street. except the Exposition block.
tna, ire block between Seventeenth ana
Eient'enth can be had only by lifting a
niortsase amounting tn sif.oJp. and ir:; the
.iu 'itE han block is not a desirable ioca-
t'oh-oNen If it could be obtained.
AS Il matter of fact. 4 building situated
III any portion Of the residence district Is
convenient only Tor the comparatively few
People WHO reside in its vicinity. The loca-
non OF the High School offers no parallel.
Inc High School pupil goes directly from
~ NOME Tor the purpose of spending the
sreater part of the day at school. Going
ONCE or workshop. So lo1; as he has To
ride. II makes no difference in whrt direc-
ton the car goes. and the controliin: con-
sideTation In Il1cirg the building is To have
IL where IL VIII cquaiize burdens Of travel On
all and put as little as possible on any.
With the library il is entirely different.
Comparatively few persons make :, trip
from home expressly for TIE purpose Of
drawing a book. They get their books when
other business takes them somewhere in
the vicinity of the library.
WHERE THE MASS
OF PEOPLE CONGREGATE.
Therefore. in determining what location
VIII Ec cost convenient to the greatest
number of people. we must ascertain where
or for their daily work or pleasure. for
shopping and theater-soiag. for various vo-
cations and avoeat!ons. No extended search
Is necessary. The place sought il the dis
trict between Twelfth ard Fourth streets
and between Franklin avenue and Market
street. Up TO the present time the great
cnnppnf n finn l. nazt of N;ysh @tr.A Ear
some years to come, then. the most accessi-
Bile, hence the best. site for the central Ii
brary would be Sixth or Seventh and Olive;
Looking to the future. however. it would
be well TO go west some distance; and. aside
from this consideration. a selection further
west Is made absolutely necessary by the
fact that the price OF land would make a
site east Of Twelfth street Impossible. In
deed. when the board looked for a block TO
purchase. ii found that anything east OF
s. venteenth street and in the center of east
and west main lines of travel Was unat-
iainable. In the block Immediately east of
the one bought land was held at prohibi-
tive prices.
ABILITY OF
GRAND AVENUE SITE.
1t IS clear. then. that TO make the central
accessible to residents of all parts
of the city it must be placed somewhere
in the district where people from all sec
tioaS congregate. the center of which at
the present time is about Sixth. from Locust
To Olive. but is gradually moving westward.
II II, uCNtsts, Sdlt 10 pftuiCt tflal III MY
years from now there will still be a greater
massing OF people during working hours
east of Thirteenth street than west OF
street. In other words. IL will
be more than fifty years before the EXPOSE
ton block will be east of the center of the
.work-a-day throng. The same will be true
Of Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets. for
some years farther in the future.
But you may say-more than one has
made this answer-"Why not put the main
building on Grand avenue and have a
lnh dnu-s m -
This would make the most valuable treas
ures of the library accessible to the COM
paratively few citizens who reside near the
site selected and TO the still smaller num-
Der who can spare car fare and time to
wherever the main building may he
placed. For the main library contains
thousands more which will never be dupli-
cated in the branches. To build = branch in
the downtown district is to make. not the
wealth Of the library. but only a
small part of 1t accessible to the crowds
who represent all sections of the city. The
branch is for its neighborhood: the central
library is for all, and should therefore be
all can readily reach 1t.
HI MASSES
DAILY.
The number Of people to be found daily on
Grand avenue. between EastOn avenue and
street. Is not one-tenth Of the
space downtown and though the
Grand avenue frequenters will Increase
year Dy year, the doWntoWn throngS Will
grow in n greater ratio. We are misled by
he rapid spread of population over the resi- |
lent districts. Here the tendency Is to diff |
fusion But in the business portion OF the
city there is an increasing concentration |
How many OF the old single-line stores are
represented by Bars, Nugent's, CT.wford's |
and the Grand-Leader? What a long line of
he old kind Of buildings would be necs ssary
10 replace the Century and the Union
If the central building Is to be for /
the people and rot for the people of
efsure. or for those who live within a half |
nile of Grand and Franklin avenues, II /
must be located where people from all parts |
II the city congre gate. It is safe to say /
nat every day over 10000 persons visit the
region l have referred to, and II
would be a conservative estimate to say /
hat three-fifths of the households of this
.ity are represented in this district by one
once a week. Is there any other
PORTION of the city of which this can be
one-tenth as much?
Advocates of the old City Hall block
'ay: Yes. We agree with yOu-everybody
must agree-that the central building should
De where 1t will be most accessible and
where 1t will show W. well. and we've
picked Just the place for 1t. 1t will be on
he broadest street in town. ard It and
he City Hall will make n fine architectural
sroup." This seems attractive until We re-
iect that this block IS not in the center,
tut on the extreme southwest corner Of the
district. Now. every one knows,
rom his own feelings. how 10th the aver
lge man Is to leave the beaten track; and
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