page_title: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: The New Library, Toledo, Ohio Subjects: Public libraries Places: Ohio &gt; Lucas (county) &gt; Toledo Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_016837
context_page_description: Toledo Lucas County Public Library is a public library system located in Toledo, Ohio.
context_section_description: Founded in December 1838, it was Ohio's first public library created with tax money. There were sixty-six charter members in the association's subscription library. Members paid an annual fee of two dollars. The Ohio General Assembly granted a charter to the Young Men's Association of Toledo for a "lyceum and public library." In 1864, Republican members broke off from the Young Men's Association Library and formed the Toledo Library Association. In 1867, the two groups merged. In 1873, a free public library was organized by an act of the Ohio Legislature. On May 26, City Council passed a resolution creating The Toledo Public Library. Mrs. Anna B. Carpenter was selected as the first Librarian of the Toledo Public Library. On November 3, 1873, the Toledo Public Library opened for its first day of operation on the second floor of the King Block, a commercial building on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and Summit Street.
  In 1875, Miss Lucy Stevens succeeded Mrs. Carpenter as Librarian. In 1884, Stevens retired and was replaced by Mrs. Frances Jermain. In 1890, Edward O. Fallis designed a new Main Library in early Norman and Byzantine style. The final cost, including land, construction and some furniture, was $84,793. It opened on June 23, 1890.  An addition was built in 1914. In 1902, Jermain retired and was replaced by Willis Fuller Sewall. He left in 1914 and was replaced by Herbert S. Hirschberg.
  An annex to the main library building saw construction begin in September, 1914, with the grand opening on October 21, 1915.
  The first full-service branch library opened in April 1915 and was at the Glenwood School. It closed with the opening of the Eliza M. Kent Branch in 1917. Other branch libraries located in schools during the 1920s included Navarre, Nathan Hale, Oakdale-White, Hamilton, McKinley, Arlington, and Harvard schools.
  In 1916, the Andrew Carnegie Fund offered $125,000 to build five branches on sites to be provided by city. Consulting architect for all five buildings was Edward Tilton of New York. The five branches were the David R. Locke Branch, designed by M.M. Stophlet and opened on December 5, 1917; Eliza M. Kent Branch, designed by L.G. Welker and opened on December 11, 1917 (fire destroyed the original building in 1974); the Anna C. Mott Branch, designed by Bernhard Becker and opened on January 3, 1918; Frances D. Jermain Branch, designed by Bates and Gamble and opened on January 7, 1918; and the South Branch, designed by David L. Stine and Son, opened on January 16, 1918.
  In 1923, Carl Vitz took over as Librarian. He was succeeded in 1937 by Russell Schunk, on whose watch the current Toledo Lucas County Main Library was built. It is on land that was the former home of the Toledo Central High School. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Hahn and Hayes and opened on September 5, 1940. The interior of the building was modeled after the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. The exterior was modeled on that of Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The one of the interesting features of the building are the vitrolite murals in the Central Court and the Children's Library.
  On November 1, 1945, Herbert M. Sewell was named Librarian, taking over for Mr. Vitz; 10 years later, he was succeeded by Robert D. Franklin who stayed as Librarian until the merging of the 3 library systems.
  The Lucas County Library opened in 1918 at the location that is now known as the Maumee Branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library system. Emilie Meuser was the first Director of the Lucas County Library. She was replaced by Dorothy Strouse who served in that role from 1929-1970 when the library systems merged. In 1937 the Lucas County Library system expanded to include bookmobile service for the first time in the county.
  The Sylvania Public Library was established as a separate entity from the Lucas County Library in 1926 with Amy M. Ramsey as Director. Marie Huff replaced her in 1931 and served as Director until 1943 when Lillian Miller Carroll took over. Janet Boucher became Director in 19
caption: The Library in the depression era.
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