USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. I > Part 19
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But the extent of the library had been growing also, and in 1897 more room was required. This was seeured by the comparatively simple expedient of extending a floor from one side gallery aeross to the other in the main room, at the front part of the building. Still more room was needed in 1902, and an extensive book staek was built. It was found necessary to add to this three years later, and not long after that the librarian was lamenting that the
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need of a new building was very pressing, and until it came the library would be inereasingly crippled with its work. There then seemed be a poor pros- peet of it. The library board was foreed, because the city's financial demands were so growing in other directions, to live a sort of hand-to-mouth existence, and so many bond issues were demanded that there seemed no hope of getting one for a new library building such as New Haven would require. The Marett fund could be used only for the purpose of books. The New Haven Public Library was greatly in need of another benefactor.
II
Unexpectedly such a benefactor appeared when in October, 1906, the di- rectors received a communication from Mrs. Mary E. Ives. It contained the suggestion that the city acquire the Bristol property, at the northeast corner of Elm and Temple streets, and the offer, if the city would do this, to build thereon and present to the city "a handsome fireproof building for a public library." The letter further said that. if this offer should be found acceptable, a plan mutually satisfactory would be adopted, and a sum of money placed in the hands of the writer's attorney, George D. Watrous, "sufficient to con- struet a building which shall be an ornament to the city and worthy of the site."
The directors did not delay. Two days later they voted to request the Board of Aldermen to provide the site for the building in accordance with Mrs. Ives's suggestion : to inform the board that as soon as the present library building and the land connected with it could be disposed of, they would refund to the city the sum received therefor; that a committee of five be appointed to draw up a resolution of thanks to Mrs. Ives, and to present it to her, suit- ably engrossed, as a mark of appreciation of her generous gift.
On November 17, it was further voted that a copy of Mrs. Ives's letter be transmitted to the Board of Aldermen, with a communication representing that in the judgment of the directors the gift should be accepted, the suggested site approved and steps at once be taken for the purchase of the property. It was further voted that the sale of the premises then used for a public library be attended to as soon as possible, and the proceeds applied to the payment for the new site.
The Board of Aldermen two days later received the communication, granted unanimous consent for immediate action, and unanimously accepted the gift on behalf of the city. A committee was appointed to draft resolutions of thanks, and the matter of site and sale of the present property was referred to another special committee.
On December 10, the aldermen formally ordered that the Bristol property be approved as a site for a new library building under the terms suggested by Mrs. Ives, and that the library directors be authorized to sell the old Third
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Church Building. Snitable resolutions of thanks to the donor were at the same time adopted.
It seemed clear to the directors that the surroundings of the proposed building would be greatly improved if the city might own the space clear to the grounds of the new county court house at the corner of Elm and Church streets, which was at the time taking form and comeliness. To do this it would be necessary to obtain the Trowbridge property, adjoining the Bristol property on the east. A committee was appointed for this purpose on December 26 of the same year (1906), and reported that this could be obtained for $75,000. Accordingly, this purchase was recommended by the aldermen. The Board of Aldermen, on February 11 of the following year, authorized the purchase of the property.
The committee chosen by Mrs. Ives to secure plans and designs for the new building consisted, in addition to her attorney, George D. Watrous, of Prof. John F. Weir, Burton Mansfield, George Dudley Seymour, Former Lien- tenant Governor Samuel F. Merwin, Mayor John P. Studley and Samuel R. Avis. Mr. Merwin died before much of the committee's work was done, and his place was not filled. Mr. Avis, chairman of the board, was chosen by the library directors. Mayor Studley went out of office before the building was completed, and was replaced by his successor, Mayor Martin.
Cass Gilbert of New York, eminently qualified as an architect, but chosen with especial appropriateness because at that time he was engaged, with Frederick Law Olmsted, in a survey of New Haven for a report on city im- provement, was appointed to prepare the designs for the new building. He could be trusted to make them fully in harmony with the surroundings, present and anticipated, of the Green. The plans presented called for a building of brick, with marble trimmings, foundation and pillars, harmonizing as com- pletely as possible with the United Church on the one side and the County Court llonse on the other.
This building was completed early in 1911, and dedicated that spring. Its marble had come From Vermont and its bricks from North Haven. It did not prove to be the showy building that some had expected, but that it harmonizes with its surroundings and fits in with the traditional architecture of New Haven' no well informed person denies. In construction it is of the highest class in all respects, and it is strictly fireproof. In the main building there are three floors and in the stack building six floors. Passing up the broad and easy marble steps one enters an imposing lobby which leads to the delivery room, forty-five feet square. On the right hand or east side of the delivery room is the reference and periodical reading room, a light and altogether attractive place where the library's reference works are arranged, fitted with ample tables and seating for patrons. The open shelf room, corresponding in size to this, is on the Temple Street side of the building. On the second floor are the newspaper reading room on one side, and on the other a room of equal size designed as an art exhibition room, or for a place of public assembly.
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One room of the greatest importance, of which the library management and New Haven are justly proud, is the children's room. This is a light and airy apartment on the ground floor, with entrance from Temple Street, designed for the speeial use of the children. It is 99 by 24 feet in size, making it one of the largest children's rooms in the country. In this part of the building are the books designed for the exclusive use of the children, and their reading and refer- ence rooms. This makes one of the finest and most attractive parts of the build- ing, of signal importance because of the inducement which it offers to children to use the building. If there is, as every intelligent person believes, potent educational virtue in a publie library, then the children of New Haven, its citi- zens in years to come, have exceptional facilities to fit them for intelligent use- fulness.
The remaining rooms of the building are chiefly for administration purposes. There is a bindery 44 feet square, a shipping room 25 by IS, staff locker rooms and lunch room, a packing room 44 by 27, a cataloguing room 29 by 18, a conven- ient librarian's room, a direetors' room 18 by 12 and several storerooms. There are boiler and engine rooms and a ventilating apparatus in the sub-basement.
To the regret of all New Haven, the generous donor of this building did not live to see its completion. Mrs. Ives died during the winter cf 1907-1908. The directors passed appropriate resolutions, recording their great sorrow for the city's loss of a noble citizen, and their great gratitude to her for having made possible at length a suitable and impressive home for the public library.
III
New Haven has grown materially since this new building was finished, but the use of the library has increased even faster. Ten years ago the number of books was about 70,000, and the circulation over 300.000 a year. Now the nun- ber of books is 125,000, and the circulation over 500,000. The income of the library in 1909, including appropriation and ineidental receipts, was $20,000. It is now about $50,000.
Before the first Strong School was burned. largely through the efforts of Sherman I. Graves, its principal, always an earnest worker for the good of Fair Ilaven, a branch of the library was established in a room of that school. Its patronage was liberal from the first, and fully demonstrated the wisdom of its establishment. It had awakened Fair Haven to its need of library privileges in that seetion. It was the hope of Mr. Graves that when Strong School was rebuilt, it would contain, in addition to many other features, ample provisions for a library. It early became apparent that this was not to be, and the citizens of Fair Haven made other plans. About this time came an overture from the Carnegie Corporation of a building if Fair Haven would provide the site. It was not pleasing to all eoneerned to make any part of New Haven the beneficiary of the Carnegie Fund, it being against the natural independent spirit of the town.
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but after much diseussion and delay the offer was accepted. A site was seeured, at the cost of $5,000, on Grand Avenue near Ferry Street, and there a building approved by the Carnegie Corporation was started in 1917. It brings great relief to Fair Haven, for the provisional quarters had long before become uncomfort- ably small. There are now four other branches. The largest is in the Congress Avenue district. Westville completed a handsome building several years ago, and has now a flourishing library. Near the end of 1916 the Winehester Repeat- ing Arms Company offered quarters for a branch library in its district, and there is a well used branch in Lowell House. The circulation in these branches for 1916 was: Congress, 60.157; Fair Haven. 51,226; Westville, 34.749; Lowell House, 13,056: Dixwell and the other branches, 4,093. The present provision for this Dixwell branch is only temporary. In this rapidly growing part of the town there will be a permanent demand for a library. with its own building. There is a substantial movement for the purchase of a site for a Carnegie building, and it is probable that before long New Haven will have among its branches a second Carnegie library.
The school eirculation, partly estimated, was 57,000 for 1916, bringing the total considerably over half a million for that year. It has shown a retarding of increase since, for many persons have had other things to busy them than read- ing. The present number of card holders is not far from 38,000, and the number increases at the rate of about 12.000 a year.
Fiction still has a good lead in the classes of books demanded, though it has in the aggregate fairly a majority of the vote. In the Lowell House library, where all the readers are children. except for the few foreign language books read by adults, literature and miscellany is a close second to fiction, and half as many books on sociology and education are read. The juvenile circulation in the main library and in the branches averages about half the adult, except in the Congress branel (an addition to Lowell House just mentioned), where it is double the adult. At Fair Ilaven, twice as many books of travel were read by adults as at Congress. In the main library the books most in demand by adults, next to fiction, were foreign books, literature and miseellany, the useful arts, and the fine arts, including recreation. At Fair Haven and Westville there was a great demand for bound volumes of the magazines. Books on sociology, including education, had a great demand at the main library. but a much greater propor- tional demand at Congress and Lowell House,
A recent development of the library service has been the opening of summer branches in July and August in four schoolrooms. Dante. Scranton Street, Lovell and Ivy. They are open twice a week in the afternoons. They have been used mostly by the children, though adult books have been included. It was not the original intention, but it was found that by affording an opportunity to the children to come to the schoolhouses in summer for reading, the library might serve a valuable purpose.
The annual expense of maintaining the library is now approximately $50,000.
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Of this about $40,000 comes from the city appropriation, over $2,000 from fines and fees, and the balance from a number of minor sources. The Marett Fund for the purchase of books is an account by itself. and provides about $3,250 a year. There is a considerable annual bulk of accessions from gifts of books, periodicals and newspapers.
CHAPTER XVIU
THE CIVIC DEVELOPMENT
ORIGIN AND WORK OF THE CIVIC FEDERATION-OLD AND NEW HISTORY OF THE CHAM- BER OF COMMERCE-SOME CONTRIBUTORY ORGANIZATIONS
I
It has appeared from various facts touched npon in the foregoing pages that somewhere about the dawning of the twentieth century New Haven began to have an awakening to its possibilities, its power and its responsibility, and consciously to grapple with the task revealed. It was not without some machinery of organi- zation that this was brought about. A community made up of able, alert, consci- entious individuals had fallen into the fault of remaining too individualistic, and developing little of effectual harmonious effort. It had some organizations which it was not using, it needed others- or at least there were those who thought it did.
Mention has been made of such organizations, of which the Civic Federation and the Chamber of Commerce are examples. The former was the growth of the needs of the time: the latter was an old and partly dormant organization, whose functions had been conceived to be limited by the "customary duties of such organizations." Because the Civic Federation came first into effectual operation for the real advancement of New Haven, as well as because it was and is dis- tinetly eivie in its plan, it merits mention first in the order. It was the best and in some senses the first expression of the desire of progressive New Haven men to work together and unite others, societies and individuals, for the betterment of New Haven. There were so many things to do which, being everybody's busi- ness had become nobody's business that some tangible form of society was neees- sary as a working medium. The Civie Federation has proved that society.
The village improvement society, common in New England and elsewhere, probably furnished the germ of the idea. The things to be done were plain enough. New Haven needed better streets, better sidewalks, better housing condi- tions. It needed some attention to building lines, better sanitary regulations. Some things needed to be done for the improvement of the public health which somebody must agitate as a preparation for the work of the Board of Health. Conditions of which these are examples sounded the call for a society civic, not commercial, aiming for the moral and not alone for the material improvement of
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New Haven. The call had been answered before this, but not in a united way. The city had a number of civic societies, each working for its local end, and in a neighborhood way. When the need for some union of action became too apparent to be disregarded, they were loosely joined in a federation called The Associated Civic Societies of New Haven. And at ordinary times each proceeded to operate in its little cirele. The nature of these societies was various. Some were eivie, some were for business, others were charitable or religious, still others were of the nature of labor organizations. They were relies of the days of New Haven's rural constitution.
And New Haven had become cosmopolitan, urban ; it had grown into a sense of great responsibilities and the need of united action. There were many pro- gressive New Haveners who realized that the time had come for the making of better machinery. They agitated the matter of forming an effective and wieldy civie body. They called a meeting for such an end. This was on March 20, 1908, at the Graduates' Club. Unfortunately, only three citizens thought well enough of the matter to respond, but fortunately they were citizens worth while and un- terrified by the smallness of their number. They were the Rev. Artemas J. Haynes, the brilliant and beloved pastor of the United Church from 1901 to 1908, who within five months was to meet a mysterious and tragic death in a Cape Cod lake : Prof. Charles F. Kent, who was to be the first president of the new organi- zation, and Charles S. DeForest. They made a beginning. Other meetings, bet- ter attended, followed. The result was the organization of The Associated Civic Societies of New Haven into the Civic Federation of New Haven.
The societies thus merged were not rudely deprived of their identity, how- ever. There was formed, as a sort of holding body, the Federated Council of One Hundred, presumably to represent in a way the various societies which had been merged. This council preserved a sort of existence for about three years. It was composed of representative citizens, who did good work and advertised the new organization considerably. It has been called, in reference to that time, "the right arm of the federation." Having served its purpose, it was "discharged with thanks" when the federation adopted its constitution of 1912, for no men- tion of it was made in that document.
Professor Kent, who was very active in the formation of the society, was made its first president. Ile was followed by Dean Henry Wade Rogers, then of the Yale Law school. He was followed for two years by Walter Camp, and for the past five years Dr. Charles J. Bartlett of the Medical school has most efficiently led the work.
It was evident when the Civic Federation was formed that the time had come in New Haven for the employment of a permanent, paid executive secretary to secure results. The choice fell on Robert A. Crosby, and for the following five or six years he was the constant, consistent co-ordinator of all the activities of the federation. He had the highest enthusiasm for its possibilities, and under his effort it acquired an impetus which has drawn to it many of the most earnest citizens, and held their interest and support to the end of effective service. In
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connection with his service for the federation, both Mr. and Mrs. Crosby devoted themselves to Lowell House, a social settlement peculiar to New Haven, and their influence there will long be remembered. Many were the interests and circles in New Haven which sincerely regretted Mr. and Mrs. Crosby's departure for a larger field in New York in 1915.
It was about 1910 that the federation began so to find itself as to undertake reforms of city-wide magnitude, and its showing in the seven or eight years fol- lowing was one which abundantly justified the labor of its formation and nurture. One of the first problems of this class which it attacked was that of building lines in New Haven. Legal experts, such as the federation has always been able to command among its membership, had called attention to conditions which were astounding in their discouragement of anything like central symmetry of streets and uniformity of street lines. New Haven had, like Topsy, "just growed," and shocking had become its abnormalities. Central streets showed a lack of definite- ness in their building lines which afforded the widest range of exercise of the greed of those who were so unpatriotic as to crowd out in front of others, the true location of even the street lines was very uncertain, in some cases, and the widening of streets or the creation of uniformity in fronts or lines seemed out of the question. This was to be expected, perhaps, in a city whose roots of con- fusion went back to the indefinite old surveys of 1640. But it was found that in streets whose carving out of farm lots had taken place within two decades, the conditions were getting almost as bad.
One of the first public actions, then, of the newly organized Federated Coun- cil of One Hundred was to appoint a committee consisting of John K. Beach and George D. Watrous, attorneys, to investigate this subject of street and building lines, and to return some recommendation. That committee reported early in 1909, and its report was published in September of the same year. It embodied a brief general statement of the principles of establishment of building lines, as defined by the courts of Connecticut. The basic trouble with the situation in New Haven, the committee found, was that a great many of the supposed build- ing lines had not been established in accordance with the fundamental require- ments of notice and assessment of benefits and damages. Others had failed to comply with the mode of procedure required by the city charter. The only way to find out whether a certain building line was or was not valid was to look up the records of its establishment-if these could be found-and discover whether or not its creators had complied with the fundamental law and with the charter. On this subject in general the report said :
"It is said that most, if not all, of the building lines adopted since the early '70s have been properly established, and that those adopted prior to that time are of doubtful validity. If this is true it would follow that the doubt in ques- tion matches precisely to those building lines which are now the most important."
The report then proceeded to point out the chief points on which the impor- tance of street and building lines depend, and made five recommendations : That a systematie examination of the records of the establishment of building
1
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lines in the principal business and residence streets be made; that invalid or doubtful lines be re-established by due process of law; that new building lines, looking to the future, be established in certain streets; that emphasis be placed on the reeent opinion of the corporation counsel, a copy of which was annexed to the report, to the end of deterring the aldermen from making exceptions to established building lines; that if that should fail, snch legal or other steps as might be necessary be taken to prevent further abuse in the matter of building lines.
The opinion referred to was a plain statement of the law, and of the power of the city in the restriction of building lines.
The Buildings, Streets and Shade Trees Committee of the federation exam- ined the report and discussed the matter in many meetings. Realizing its importanee and magnitude, they arranged for joint sessions with the Town and City Improvements Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. It was agreed to follow out as far as possible the suggestions of the report, and to bring the whole matter as fully as possible to the attention of the citizens of New Haven. It cannot be said that this resulted in immediate improvement of the condition of building and street lines. Nor can it be said that they are what they should be even now. The mistakes of two and three-quarters centuries are not corrected in a deeade. But it has been the work of the federation to present the faets. The facts have set some of the people to thinking, and a start has been made. New Ilaven has in this achievement a promise that it will do better in building lines. and the results already show on the newer streets. Some day it may. at great expense, undo some of the bad work in the central streets.
Meanwhile, this same committee had undertaken to enlighten New Haven as to another evil, whose remedy must come from without. New Haven's post- office, outwardly behind the times, was inwardly a menaee to the health and lives of the half a hundred or more workers within, a plant from which good work in so important a task as the distribution of the incoming, and the aeeurate despateh of the outgoing mail ought not to be expected. It was so crowded as to hamper the workers. The ventilation was inadequate. The rooms were lacking in proper cleanliness and were effectual promoters of disease. If the city could not have a new building-and the possibility seemed at that time remote-it should have more room and better arrangement, at least better sanitary conditions, on the old site. It did not take long to find out these faets. They were promptly published in a report issued in January, 1910. It was a fair and effective presentation of "The New Haven Postoffice Building Problem." The effeet of it was not as slow in coming as might perhaps have been expected. Washington promised a new building-after further persuasion by citizens in and out of the federation. Meanwhile, it arranged for immediate relief in the shape of some added "wings" to the already unshapely brown stone building. But the effeet of more room was fairly well attained, and there was some eleaning up inside. In overdue time the new building itself has come. though its completion has been a tediously slow process, and its oeeupaney is Vol. 1-11
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