page_title: Miami-Dade Public Library System
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Miami-Dade Public Library System / History / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: History of the en:Miami Women's Club and beginning of the en:Miami-Dade Public Library system.
context_page_description: The Miami-Dade Public Library System is a system of libraries in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.
context_section_description: The Miami-Dade Public Library System traces its origin to the late nineteenth century. The first library was a reading room established in Lemon City on April 7, 1894 by the Lemon City Library and Improvement Association. Miss Ada Merritt had already started a library in the public school in Lemon City in 1893, but the modest Lemon City Library, which was originally located in the front room of Mrs. Cornelia Keyes' Cottage, was opened to serve all of the 350 Lemon City residents. In 1902 the Lemon City Library moved into its own building made of wood planks located at 412 NE 61st Street. 
  The Cocoanut Grove (original spelling) library opened on June 15, 1895 by the ladies of the Pine Needles Club.  Mrs. Andrew Carnegie helped with the beginning of the library with the contribution of bundles of books. In 1900 the Cocoanut Grove Library Association was incorporated and in 1901 Miami-Dade County's first library building was built in Cocoanut Grove.
   
   The Coconut Grove Library was established in 1895 through the efforts of the "Pine Needles Club." One of the founders of the Pine Needles Club was a local teacher named Mary Barr Munroe. In the early days, the library was small but continued to grow throughout the 1890s. One day, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, wife of industrialist, Andrew Carnegie was touring the southern waters and stopped at Coconut Grove, where she had the opportunity to attend one of the Pine Needles Club's weekly meetings. Mrs. Carnegie was impressed with the group's efforts and offered to help the fledgling library with a sizeable donation of books.
  By 1897, the library had grown so much that it had to be moved to a nearby storeroom.  In the early 1900s, an official library was planned to be constructed on land donated by the commodore of the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, Ralph M. Monroe, whose only request was that the grave of his late wife remain on the property. In addition to the land, the new library structure was donated by writer and conservationist Kirk Monroe, husband of Pine Needles Club president Mary B. Munroe. Due to a lack of infrastructure and roadways in early South Florida, books were often transported to Miami via sailboat.
  In 1901, the newly constructed building opened its doors to the public and remained in service until 1957, when it became part of the Miami Public Library. In the early 1960s, the city of Miami offered to build a new facility for the Coconut Grove Library.  On November 16, 1963, a two-story library officially opened its doors to the public and remains a staple of the South Florida community to this day. The building is a designated Florida Heritage Site.
  
  The City of Miami's library was founded by the Ladies' Afternoon Club, later the Miami Women's Club. Its purpose was "reading and the discussion of literature." By 1905, the Club was trying to provide a public reading room for its collection of books. The Club had no permanent home and for a number of years the reading room moved from place to place, as often as six times in a single year. By 1913 the Miami Women's Club had its own building located at the corner of today's Southeast Second Avenue and Flagler Street (then Avenue B and Twelfth Street) on property donated by Henry Morrison Flagler. His gift of land for the construction of a clubhouse contained a proviso that a public reading room be maintained in the building. Reliable financial support for the library was a continuing problem and in 1915 the Miami City Commission was convinced to support the library and $50 each month was allocated to its support. This downtown location was later sold and the Miami Women's Club erected its current building at 1737 North Bayshore Drive. The Flagler Memorial Library was established in this new building.
  By 1925 the communities of Coconut Grove and Lemon City had been annexed into the City of Miami.
  The first public library serving the Black community was the Dunbar Branch at 2059 N. W. 6 Court, established March 14, 1938, by the Friendship Garden Club, assisted by the Miami Woman's Club.
caption: Flagler Memorial Library historical plaque
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 6s", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "9.2.1", "Image DateTime": "2016:08:20 14:22:05", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[25, 47, 3081/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[80, 11, 1269/100]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "3314/3611", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[18, 22, 5]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "0", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "38422/365", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "38422/365", "GPS GPSDate": "2016:08:20", "GPS Tag 0x001F": "10", "Image GPSInfo": "1598", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2002", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "13258", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1350", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "25", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:08:20 14:22:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:08:20 14:22:05", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9452/909", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7983/3509", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "8543/846", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "83/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[2015, 1511, 2217, 1330]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "338", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "338", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4032", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3024", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "29", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[83/20, 83/20, 11/5, 11/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2"}