Evening star., 1935-03-15
) NEW LIBRARIES
SOUGHT FOR CITY
Trustees File List With
Commissioners in Bid
for Works Funds.

The Board of Trustees of the Pub
Lie Library have submitted to the Dis
trict Commissioners list Of flve
building projects, to be carried out
or available sites, which may be
undertaken for the Free Public
Library under the proposed work re-
lief program, and have prepared a
list of additional projects to be sub
mitted should conditions justify a
more extensive program of construc-
ton.
The proposed Petworth branch libra
ry on a site available on the grounds
of the Roosevelt High and MacFar-
land Junior High Schools at Kansas
avenue and Upshur street is given
priority, followed in order by the
Tenley branch to replace the present
inadequate building, to be constructed
on a site adjacent to the Janney
School transferred to the Library by
the Board of Education and the Dis
trict Commissioners; the Conduit
road branch, another urgent replace
ment, on a site at Ashby place and
CONDUIT road to be transferred to the
Library by the National Park and
Planning Commission; the Howard
branch on an available site on Fair
mont street between Georgia avenue
and Sherman avenue. subject to allo-
cation by the District Commissioners
to the Library trustees, and the South
western branch on available ground at
Seventh and H streets. subject to
allotment by the District Com
miSsioners.
Petworth Population C0ngested.
The construction of the proposed
Fetworth branch library has been
repeatedly urged by the citizens Of
Petworth and the Library Board OF
Trustees The Petworth section is one
Of the most congeSted areas In the
city with a population between $4,000
and $4,000 and a school population
approximating 1000 in the senior
and junior high schools, eight ele-
mentary public and parochial schools
within easy walking distance, and
four in outlying districts. The cost
of the branch is estimated at $40 900
exclusive of furniture and equipment.
The present Tenley Sub-branch
located in the former police sta
ton on Wisconsin avenue at River
road. has become entirely inadequte
for its present use, the board says,
and on the opening Of the new
Woodrow Wilson Senior High School
in the Autumn Of 1885 it will be i'm
possible to accommodate the stu
dents who will flock to it for sup
Elementary reading At present there
are eight public and parochial schools
in the immediate vicinity. The esti-
mated cost Of replacement is $62 ,000
and operating costs would not be
greatly increased by the removal.
The abandoned one-room school
house. built in 1874. which houses
the Conduit road sub-branch, is in
dilapidated condition and urgently
over S1,700. The foundations are
poor and sagging. the shingle roof
needs to be replaced the inside needs
replastering and painting and the ex-
terror requires having the rotted
wood removed and burning, scraping
and painting
Conditions are now so serious that
the building will have to be aban-
doned unless the costly repairs are
undertaken, which seems inadvisable
in view of the fact that the library
has outgrown the available space
and the building must sooner or later
be torn down as it is on the line of
Fort Drive.
The branch is particularly needed
in this section because the residents
numbering between 1000 and 5000
are far removed from other library
agencies and other cultural oppor-
tunities. The cost Of replacement
is estimated at SIS 1000.
Howard Center Important.
A heavily congested area having a
population of 10000 within a mile
radius is much in need of the library
service which the Howard branch WI
give. In the near neighborhood are
Miner Teachers College. Howard Uni
verSity, Garnet Patterson Junior High
School. four elementary schools and
the proposed Banneker Recreation
Center. The estimated cost is sllO,-
900.
The section to be served by the
Southwest branch is cut off from the
Use of the Central Library by distance
and. for the children, by traffic haz-
ards. A considerable portion of the
population to be served is under
privileged. with no provision for car
fare and with little apart from the
activities of the Neighborhood House
social settlement to ameliorate i'm
tied and in many cases undesirable
conditions. A library station at
Neighborhood House, open two hours
a week, has been much used and
demonstrates the use that will be
made of the branch. 1t is estimated
that a building costing $4,000 will
adequately serve this community O.
over $4,000, with a heavy school
population in Is public and parochIal
schools,