Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-25
GREAT LIBRARY ROSE
OUT OF CHICAGO ASHES
Second Largest Was Erected
Through the Sentiment and
Sympathy of Old World.


Chicago. Aug. 2s.--When Chicag,
this fall observes the 5oth anniversary
of the great fire that destroyed this
city, 1t win recall that its public H.
brary. now the second largest In th,
world. was born in that contiagration
The library owes its start TO British
sympathy for the stricken city which
found its expression in books.
The prime mover in England was
Browns School Days" His proposal
resulted in $4,000 volumes besides n
sum of money being sent here from
Great Britain. The children's room
in the library is called the Thomas
Hughes Room
The chief prize Of the Chicago lie
brary is an autographed copy of "The
Early Years of the Prince Consort''
that Queen Victoria sent. IL was n
volume of memoirs of her husband
that she had had compiled. The
queen inscribed Ii for Chicago on
November -. 1871. five weeks after
the fire of October 9, and long before
city library had taken shape here.
Hughes had visited Chicago several
years before the fire and made a
number of friends. On hearing of
disaster he enlisted Queen Victoria,
Gladstone. then premier. others high
in the government. authors such as
Carlyle and Disraeli. and leading pub
fishers. They Joined their names 10 a
circular of appeal to the people of
Great Britain.
Support was urged on the ground
that the new library of Chicago is
TO be a mark of sympathy now and
token of that sentiment OF kinshlp
which, independently of circumstances
and independently OF every other con-
sideration, must ever powerfully affect
the different branches of the English
race"
The appeal was at once taken up
by the British press. A noted pub
Usher at Leipsic began the collee-
tion of books in Germany. A thou
sand volumes were sent by the Ger
mans.
This activity abroad led the citizens
of Chicago to bestir themselves.
Hughes and his associates took il for
granted that Chicago had had a pub
lie library and that it had been de-
stroyed. They supposed they were
helping to replace il. There had. how
ever. been none of this sort before.
Chicago began to take the necesN
sary steps to start library. on
April ). 1879. six months after the
fire, the city council passed an ordin-
ance for free city library The city
then got law through the Legisla-
ture authorizing a library tax.
After its fearful experience, Chi
eago felt no place would be proper 10
receive the precious books from abroad
except one that was thoroughly fire.
proof The only fireproof thing left
in the city was an abandoned iron
water tank that had served as a reser-
voir for the south side. 1t was 90
feet in diameter and 80 feet high.
IL was rooted over. hole cut in the
side for door, shelves built around its
curving sides, and turned into a Ii
orary. There during 1879 and 1873
1000 volumes received from English |
and elsewhere We're
stored, and in May. 1874, the library |
proper was opened.
The British contributions included |
works of Gladstone. Her.
bert Spencer. John Stuart Mill, Dis |
raeli. Carlyle. Kingsley, Huxley. John |
Bright, Lyel, Freeman and Rosetti |
Lady Trevelyan, sister of Macaulay. |
a set of his works she !
FAD edited. The British government !
'ent 1000 volumes. including a calen- |
lar of state papers with copy of the
'Domesday Book" oxford Univer-
ity bound several thousand volumes
With its best binding. and Cambridge
University and great British publish
RS contributed literally. The British
'atent Office put the Chicago library
N its mailing list and is still send
ng its publications.
A number of the autographed vol
mes have been preserved in a memoir
al collection.
Out of this start the Chicago public
Ibrary has grown to a collection of
100. 600 volumes. Its annual circu-
alton is 100000. which places it
head of any library in England.