page_title: Augsburg Park Library
section_title: Built in 1975
hierarchical_section_title: Augsburg Park Library / Built in 1975
caption_attribution_description: English: The current library, built in 1974, renovated in 2013.
context_page_description: Augsburg Park Library is a public library in Richfield, Minnesota. A Richfield branch library of Hennepin County Library has existed in various buildings in since 1951.
context_section_description: Named after an adjacent park of the same name,  Augsburg Park Library at 7100 Nicollet Avenue South opened in February 1975.  Following the purchase of 2.8 acres of land by Hennepin County from the City of Richfield for $99,500, InterDesign, Inc. was chosen as the architect  and ground was broken on December 20, 1973. The new library was two and a half times larger than its predecessor. Leading up to the approval of the construction, there was one significant and unexpected delay. Soil studies indicated that the ground at Nicollet and 72nd Avenue South consisted of alluvial soil, and needed to be removed before the building began, bumping up construction costs by $35,000. The contract to build the new facility was awarded to Henry O. Mikkelson Company.
  This library was built on a portion of land previously purchased by the Village of Richfield from Augsburg College in 1949 for $60,000. Costs totaled $889,810 including construction, architect's fees, the land, landscaping and equipment. In creating the 15,000 square foot building, existing oak trees, remnants of the oak savanna, were retained, as the architects designed a building with staggered windows on the east and west sides.
  Before there was a library in Richfield, residents’ needs were met with bookmobile service.   The first Richfield branch of the Hennepin County Library opened in February 1951 in rented quarters in a church at 6422 Lyndale Avenue South and was known as the Richfield Library. That same year, the Friends of the Richfield Library Association was established, with a plan to fund the purchase of books, furniture and other necessary items for the new library. By 1959, Richfield Library was circulating some 100,000 books per year, the largest in Hennepin County. From 1952 to 1959, patrons grew from 1,540 to 16,000, respectively.
  In September 1952, the library moved to 6700 Portland Avenue South. Richfield's population was growing rapidly and bookmobile stops were added to accommodate patrons. In 1961, the Hennepin County Library-Augsburg opened at 70th and Nicollet. Designed by architect Ralph Shimer, a Richfield resident,  construction was funded in part through Richfield's municipal liquor store profits in the amount of $100,000. Additional funding of $20,000 was provided from Community Center Funds. Demand for services continued to grow, and resulted in the move to the new purpose-built library, its current location one block south of the 1961 locale.  It is a geographic bookend to complement Hennepin County Central Library's position at the north end of Nicollet Avenue.  Recently, Minneapolis – St. Paul Magazine chose Augsburg Community Library as “Hennepin County’s Best Library to Read In.”
caption: The current library, built in 1974, renovated in 2013.
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