BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Rockville -- Rockville Memorial Library -- Exhibit: History of Rockville Library 1869 to 2006

MD -- Rockville -- Rockville Memorial Library -- Exhibit: History of Rockville Library 1869 to 2006:

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[1] LIBHIS_220223_001.JPG	[2] LIBHIS_220223_005.JPG	[3] LIBHIS_220223_009.JPG
[4] LIBHIS_220223_011.JPG	[5] LIBHIS_220223_016.JPG	[6] LIBHIS_220223_018.JPG
[7] LIBHIS_220223_020.JPG	[8] LIBHIS_220223_023.JPG	[9] LIBHIS_220223_026.JPG
[10] LIBHIS_220223_028.JPG	[11] LIBHIS_220223_031.JPG	[12] LIBHIS_220223_032.JPG
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[16] LIBHIS_220223_038.JPG	[17] LIBHIS_220223_041.JPG	[18] LIBHIS_220223_043.JPG
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[22] LIBHIS_220223_053.JPG	[23] LIBHIS_220223_054.JPG	[24] LIBHIS_220223_057.JPG
[25] LIBHIS_220223_060.JPG	[26] LIBHIS_220223_061.JPG	[27] LIBHIS_220223_064.JPG
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[40] LIBHIS_220223_096.JPG	[41] LIBHIS_220223_098.JPG	[42] LIBHIS_220223_100.JPG
[43] LIBHIS_220223_102.JPG	[44] LIBHIS_220223_104.JPG	[45] LIBHIS_220223_106.JPG
[46] LIBHIS_220223_108.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. LIBHIS_220223_011.JPG: Rockville Library Association, 1869 - 1876 In 1869 a group of prominent residents incorporated the Rockville Library Association of Montgomery County in order to "procure books by purchase or otherwise and preserve them for the use and benefit of its members." The small library, located in the back of the law offices of Anderson & Bouic on Montgomery Avenue, opened on Wednesday and Saturday from 2 to 4 o'clock. Adults were entitled to check out one volume at a time for each share of stock owned and paid an annual subscription fee of $1 to borrow books for up to three weeks. In a time with no radio, television, movies, or internet, books were even more precious than they are today. Novels and narratives were treated as communal property, passed from hand to hand and read aloud to entire households at a time. By 1876, the group was no longer able to attract a quorum, and the Association closed its doors. It would be 40 years before Rockville had another subscription library.
2. LIBHIS_220223_016.JPG: THE DECADE AFTER THE CIVIL WAR was one of readjustment in Rockville. With fewer than 700 residents, the small town was still the largest settlement in Montgomery County as well as the seat of local government. The recent conflict had taken a toll-on soldiers and slaves, on livestock and farming operations, and on relationships between neighbors who had taken different sides. The post-war decade was also one of optimism. In 1860, Rockville had become the first town in Montgomery County to incorporate, giving it authority to pass laws deemed beneficial to its citizens. New public schools raised the aspirations of Rockville families and the general level of intellectual interest in the community. The new rail line through Montgomery County brought visitors, land speculators, developers, and new residents and businesses to the town. Institutions that had. been established before the war matured and thrived. Townspeople and their elected officials turned to ventures that would improve life in the community.
3. LIBHIS_220223_020.JPG: THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 20th CENTURY provided opportunities for Rockvillians to improve their community. A typhoid epidemic and America's short involvement in the first World War pointed out vulnerabilities as well as chances to work together for a better life. Rockville's population of 1,145 in 1920 included men and women who connected with the world through radio, travel, contact with other communities, and telephone service. Newcomers from urban places and enlightened local farmers helped to expand horizons. This period saw the introduction of town bands, a high school for white students, more religious denominations, sports teams, and numerous social, civic, and self- improvement organizations to Rockville. However, white and black Rockvillians led separate lives, as neighborhoods, social and religious institutions, and schools were segregated by law and by tradition. Cultural enrichment gradually came to the small town as well. Along with efforts of the Town Hall Company "to improve the educational, moral, scientific, literary and social condition of the community" came thrilling visits each summer by traveling Chautauqua troupes. Middle-class women formed the Woman's Club of Rockville in 1900 and the Club of Present Day (later renamed the Inquiry Club) in 1911 to promote the intellectual growth of their members.
4. LIBHIS_220223_023.JPG: 1920 Rockville population: 1,145 Book stock: 1,500 Paid library staff: 0
5. LIBHIS_220223_032.JPG: 1937 Rockville population: 1,900 Book stock: 5,000 Paid library staff: 1 part time
6. LIBHIS_220223_038.JPG: AFTER WORLD WAR II, Rockville began to evolve into the city we know today. The 1950s were particularly momentous. Fueled by expansion of the Federal government, demand for new housing in the suburbs, and the baby boom, the town's 1950 population of 6,934 jumped 238 percent to 26,090 by 1960. New neighborhoods arose along Veirs Mill Road and the Rockville Pike on the east side of town, and close to the new highway (now 1-270) on the west side. The business district remained an eclectic mix of uses, building sizes, settings, and styles. Cars and trucks clogged the narrow streets, and parking was at a premium. However, black and white citizens were still segregated by neighborhoods, institutions, and habits. Many of the newcomers came from east coast cities that provided services not offered in Rockville, such as organized recreation programs and large libraries. They noted that here black and white residents rarely mingled, and that students and their parents felt more comfortable using the libraries at the local colored schools. The 1950s brought modernization to local government. A political revolution in 1954 led to progressive ideas, new faces, and improved services. Expectations kept pace with the population, as Rockville residents enjoyed new schools, postal service, and recreation programs. They channeled personal energy into organizations involved in civic improvement, leisure activities, political influence, and cultural pursuits. A 1950 law established the Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries. Communities. around the County joined the new system, by mid-decade leaving only Rockville and Takoma Park with independent library associations.
7. LIBHIS_220223_051.JPG: The Rockville Library grows up Attendees at the February 1937 housewarming saw that moving to the Academy and hiring a paid librarian provided the Rockville Library Association with room to mature. In 1948, Association members approved a new constitution that made services free to all residents of the election district, narrowing it to Rockville residents and property owners when funding assistance from the Mayor and Council became the major source of income. A small branch library operated for Negro patrons at Lincoln Park for two years, but then was abandoned as impractical. Partly because of financial support from the town, these years were so satisfactory that the Library Association decided not to join the new County library system created in 1951. However, by the early 1950s, Rockville's library was hustling to keep pace with the booming population and new neighborhoods With 9,250 books, it needed additional space. The association pursued several possibilities: addition to the Academy building hooking into a proposed civic center, and expanding service through bookmobile stops. The issue came to a head when Montgomery County refused to rebate the library tax paid by Rockville citizens unless the Association took over all library services in Rockville. Years of negotiations led to a trial agreement in 1956, then formal entry of the Rockville Library into the County system on July 1 1957. Mayor Hovsepian noted that "we decided it was tim library grew up.
8. LIBHIS_220223_054.JPG: The Rockville Academy, 1936 - 1966 In 1936, the Library Association arranged with the Trustees of the Rockville Academy and the Board of Education to relocate the library to the old school at the corner of Adams and Jefferson Streets. Although no longer operating as a private school, the Trustees wished to continue an educational use (as required by their legacy from Julius West) and offered assistance. The library shared the building with a kindergarten. Miriam Pasma was hired as librarian, at a salary of $75 a month. The library reopened in early 1937. Bolstered by annual support from the Academy trustees, civic clubs, and maintenance from the school board, the library thrived in the new location. In 1944, the group abandoned the $1 membership fee and established "Friends of the Library" in its place. Demands for library services mushroomed with Rockville's population in the 1950s and 60s. County budgets, library staff, and community volunteers kept up as best they could, but clearly a larger facility had to be found. The timing of the sale of the roperty by the Trustees of the Rockville Academy in 1965 incided with the opening of the Suburban Trust building on hington Street to provide a temporary location for the library nning and constructing a permanent building.
9. LIBHIS_220223_057.JPG: 1952 Rockville population: 7,200 Book stock: 10,000 Paid library staff: 5 part time
10. LIBHIS_220223_064.JPG: Twinbrook Library The new post-war neighborhoods on the east side of town brought so many new families to Rockville that a County bookmobile was assigned by the mid 1950s to make regular stops in Twinbrook. In 1959, the County leased space in the ground floor level of the shopping center, below People's Drug Store, on the south side of Veirs Mill Road. Starting with an inventory of 6,651 books, the windowless, poorly ventilated quarters were so heavily used that Soon a new facility was planned. The Twinbrook Library opened in 1975 on Meadow Hall Drive. The modern building, designed by Keyes, Lethbridge and Condon, was completed at a total cost of $942,000. Following tradition, community volunteers assisted library staff from the start.
11. LIBHIS_220223_070.JPG: The Suburban Trust building, 1966-1971 In 1965, Suburban Trust Company opened a million-dollar bank in Rockville. Designed by Washington architect Arthur L. Anderson, the modernist five-story building with distinctive honeycomb grid and pink and white enamel panels became an instant landmark on the corner of Washington Street and Beall Avenue. Individual offices and entire floors were available for lease. Opening of the bank building at 255 North Washington Street provided the Rockville Library with time to continue basic service in a larger space while planning a new permanent facility. In 1966, the library moved in about 25,000 books and opened to the public 48 hours a week. This operation continued until construction of the new library in 1971. By this time, separate facilities for people of different races was no longer an issue. Civil rights progress - the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 and subsequent integration of Montgomery County schools, then local legislation for Public Accommodations (1962) and Fair Housing (1967) - opened public libraries, schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and facilities to all residents regardless of color.
12. LIBHIS_220223_084.JPG: 1971 Rockville population: 42,800 Book stock: 100,000 Paid library staff: 23 full and part time
13. LIBHIS_220223_092.JPG: A "flagship" Library for Rockville, 1971 Rockville library's venue in the Suburban Trust building was convenient but always intended to be temporary. A city of 42,700 residents deserved a permanent, full-service facility. The new library that opened in September 1971 occupied a large corner lot on Perry and Jefferson Streets, a site that for 80 years had been home to the Vinson family. Bethesda architect Stanley H. Arthur successfully situated his International Style design on the sloping, irregular site by squeezing in parking and service areas to the rear and drawing emphasis to the dramatic plaza entryway and 2-story fa�ade wrapped with broad bands of white brick and tinted panels of ribbon windows. From 1971 to 2006, the Rockville Regional library served the needs of residents, students, and scholars in one of the city's most noteworthy architectural landmarks. The 45,000 square foot facility cost $835,000 to build. Everything about it was bigger, better, and more convenient for patrons and staff. The first floor interior featured a spacious lobby, a children's section, and well- illuminated areas for open stacks and research collections. Administrative offices and conference rooms were located on the second floor. Initially the library was open to the public 68 hours a week and boasted 100,000 volumes available for reference and circulation. Popular programs included book clubs for adults and children, story times, lectures, and a film department. The 1971 library led the field in innovations. In addition to serving as central headquarters for the entire system, it was designated one of the County's four regional libraries. Regional libraries (a status operating from 1974-2005) were larger and generally provided with enhanced resources. They also had subject specialties, which in Rockville's case included special collections in local history, government documents, and books related to F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Montgomery County Chapter of the NAACP. Telephone reference was initiated in 1982, and in 2001 a child care resource database was launched. Rockville provided books for inmates at the County jail and U.S. Census data for researchers. The special needs section was so successful that it outgrew its quarters. In the 1980s, digital card catalogs were introduced.
14. LIBHIS_220223_102.JPG: 2006 Rockville population: 57,800 Book stock: 200,000 Paid library staff: 33 full and part time
15. LIBHIS_220223_108.JPG: ROCKVILLE IN the 21st CENTURY is as different from the City in 1957 as that era was from the 1870s of the first library association. The 57,000 people who call Rockville home are more diverse and more likely to have been born in another city or country. They live in a bustling small city amidst ongoing development that bears little resemblance to the County seat of years past. Our new library is prepared to meet a variety of demands undreamed of in previous generations: The Disability Resource Center, Ask A Librarian phone reference, space for exhibits and meetings, videos, CDs and DVDs, books on tape, language line interpretation, study rooms, library administration, and a new Business, Science and Cultural Center. On opening day, the number of books was 200,000. Keeping up with growth - in the population served, the number of books circulated, in the need for services - has also never been more demanding. The professional staff of Rockville librarians - 17 full time and 16 part-time - is augmented by community volunteers, a local Friends of the Library chapter, and partnerships with a variety of entities. The new facility is a centerpiece of the Town Center redevelopment. Behind the impressive architectural lines and expanses of glass is 67,125 square feet of library, plus administrative space. Technology is perhaps the most visible change, with innovations such as wireless computers, audio Ebooks, and digital signage. Volunteerism remains alive and well in Rockville. The women and men of the past who held teas and bake sales, swept the floors and carried in the wood have been succeeded by new generations of passionate volunteers who step forward to assist staff with library tasks and ensure adequate public funding. Rockville library as an institution has matured with the community it serves remains a source of community pride, a gathering place where people learn and meet, and a facility to serve the needs of its citizens. Through nearly 140 years of library experience, intellectually curious Rockville citizens continue to love books and to pass this tradition on to following generations.
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