page_title: Indianapolis Public Library
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Indianapolis Public Library / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View looking north from New York Street at University Park and Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, ca. 1873
context_page_description: The Indianapolis Public Library is the public library system serving the citizens of Marion County, Indiana, United States and its largest city, Indianapolis. The library was founded in 1873 and has grown to include a Central Library building, located adjacent to the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, and 24 branch libraries spread throughout the county.
context_section_description: The Indianapolis Public Library system attributes its beginnings to a Thanksgiving Day, 1868, sermon by Reverend Hanford A. Edson, pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian Church (which would later become Second Presbyterian Church), who issued a plea for a free public library in Indianapolis. As a result, 113 residents formed the Indianapolis Library Association on March 18, 1869. In 1870, under the leadership of the superintendent of public schools, Abram C. Shortridge, citizens drafted a revision of Indiana school law to provide public libraries controlled by a board of school commissioners. The bill passed the Indiana General Assembly, allowing school boards to levy taxes for the purpose of establishing and maintaining public libraries.
  In 1872, the public library committee of the school board hired Cincinnati librarian William Frederick Poole to begin a collection for the new library and appointed Charles Evans as the first librarian. Indianapolis' first public library opened in one room of the Indianapolis High School building at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and Michigan streets on April 8, 1873. Upon opening, the library’s collection numbered 13,000 volumes and registered 500 borrowers. By the end of its first full year of operation, some 3,000 patrons borrowed more than 100,000 books. Later, as the need for more space grew, the library moved to the Sentinel Building on Monument Circle (1876–1880) and the Alvord House at Pennsylvania and Ohio streets (1880–1893).
  Evans served as librarian until 1878, and again from 1889 to 1892. Evans' successors were Albert B. Yohn (1878–1879), Arthur W. Tyler (1879–1883), and William deM. Hooper (1883–1889). Eliza G. Browning succeeded Evans in his second tenure, holding the position from 1892 to 1917. During her leadership, the library moved to the first building constructed solely for its purpose, located on the southwest corner of Ohio and Meridian streets in 1893 and opened its first library branch opened in 1906 on Clifton Street in the Riverside neighborhood. Between 1910 and 1914, another five library branches were built with $120,000 donated by Andrew Carnegie. As of 2020, two of these libraries—East Washington and Spades Park—are still active branches. Prior to her resignation, Browning initiated work on a new Central Library located partially on land donated by Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley in 1911.
  Charles E. Rush succeeded Browning, serving as librarian from 1917 until 1927. His successors were Luther L. Dickerson (1927–1944) and Marian McFadden (1944–1955). During this period, eight new branch libraries were opened, and the system’s collections expanded to include films, newspapers on microfilm, and phonorecords. Additionally, bookmobile service began in 1952.
  Harold J. Sander, who served as director from 1956 to 1971, presided over the opening of ten new branch libraries and undertook a reorganization of the Central Library in 1960 that departmentalized services. Prior to 1966, the library system served only those areas of the city under the jurisdiction of Indianapolis Public Schools, leaving more than 200,000 Marion County residents without access to free public library services. From 1966 to 1968, the newly formed Marion County Public Library Board contracted with the Indianapolis Public Library for service to county residents. In 1968, the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners relinquished responsibility for library service, allowing the city and county library systems to merge. This established the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library as a municipal corporation serving all Marion County residents, with the exception of Beech Grove and Speedway.
  Raymond E. Gnat succeeded Sander as library director in 1972. Essential library services were computerized between 1982 and 1991. By the early-1990s, the public library system encompassed 21 branches and three bookmobiles. In 1991, some seven million items were circulated among 470,000 registered borrowers and 3.4 million inquiries were answered. At this time, the library collection contained nearly 1.7
caption: Memorial Presbyterian Church (ca. 1873), site of Rev. Edson's sermon ignited the movement for a public library in Indianapolis.
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