Norwalk Public Library History

The history of the Norwalk Public Library system is the story of two libraries, Norwalk and South Norwalk.  These libraries were founded in the late 19^th-century and both functioned independently for most of their existence, each in their own Carnegie library building.  In 1913 the cities of Norwalk and South Norwalk were united as one City of Norwalk, but the libraries remained separate local libraries.  Not until the 1970’s did they merge as a city-wide library system.

 Beginnings -- South Norwalk

In 1878 a group of businessmen in South Norwalk formed the South Norwalk Library and Reading Room Corporation.  South Norwalk was then a booming industrial city and the businessmen wanted to provide young men with a public place where they could pass their time “pleasantly and profitably”, presumably as an alternative to the local saloons.  They also felt that a library would make the city more attractive to immigrants. 

 This was one of many private library organizations formed in the 19^th-century by civic-minded groups who wanted provide educational and cultural improvement to the local citizens.  Such libraries usually lasted for only a few years due to lack of money.

 The South Norwalk Corporation started with 500 donated books which were kept on the shelves of the Women's Christian Temperance Union reading room in South Main St.  The reading room was open to all, but only members of the Library Corporation, who paid $2.00 a year for membership, could take out books. 

 By 1885 the South Norwalk Corporation had raised enough money to buy their own premises.  The Corporation erected a three-story building at 108 East Washington St., one of a row of commercial buildings.  The front of the street level was rented as a store and the upper floors as offices.  These rents provided income for the Library Corporation, but meant that the library had only a back room of the first floor for its own use.  Within a few years the library expanded to use the whole first floor, but the location was, as the Library Corporation admitted, not ideal.

 This building still survives as part of the South Norwalk Historic District and is in use as a clothing store.

 Despite the office rentals and subscription income, the costs of maintaining the building and running the library were too great for the Library Corporation.   By this time public funding for libraries was becoming common and in 1890 the City of South Norwalk agreed to take over the Library, enacting a ¼ mill annual tax for its support.  This gave South Norwalk the first public library in Norwalk, but it was free only to residents of South Norwalk.  Readers from other areas, such as East Norwalk, Norwalk, or Rowayton, could use the library for an annual fee of $2.00.

 The Library and Reading Room was popular with the public despite having little money for new books.  The Library was open six days a week, from 9:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night, with breaks for the Librarian to have lunch and dinner. It was also open Sunday afternoons.  A ten-hour work day, six days a week, was normal at the time.  The South Norwalk Library was fortunate that their first Librarian, Miss Angeline Scott, was dedicated to her job.  She ran the Library from 1890 until 1908, leaving then to get married.

 The Librarian and a part-time janitor were the Library’s only paid employees.  The overall administration of the Library was done by volunteers, the same Board of Directors which had created the Reading Room Corporation and had seen it through to becoming a public library.  Long-time directors included such men as Christian Swartz, cigar and hat manufacturer, banker, and two-term Mayor of South Norwalk; and Judge John H. Light, a distinguished lawyer who at one time served as Connecticut Attorney General.  Judge Light joined the Board of South Norwalk Reading Room Corporation in 1884, at the start of his law career.   He continued on the Board when the Corporation became a public library and was chosen President in 1907.  He remained President until his death in 1947, giving over 60 years' volunteer service to the South Norwalk Library.

 Beginnings -- Norwalk

In developments parallel to those in South Norwalk, a group of Norwalk citizens formed the Norwalk Library Corporation in 1879.  Their library of about 100 books, some purchased and some donated, was housed in rented rooms in Wall St.  Members paid $2.00 a year for borrowing privileges.  Like other private libraries, the Corporation struggled to find sufficient money for rent, book purchases, and salary for a part-time Librarian. 

As in South Norwalk, the Board of Directors long-term goal was to create a public library.  Constantly short of money, in 1895 they persuaded the City of Norwalk to take over the Library Corporation and provide public funding.  The new Norwalk Public Library had rented rooms near the Boston Store at Wall and Main Sts., which was then the busy center of downtown Norwalk.  The Public Library was free only to local residents; others could use it for a fee.

 As in South Norwalk, the volunteer Board of Directors which had founded the Library Corporation continued administering the new Public Library.  Chief among these dedicated citizens was Dr. James G. Gregory, physician, banker, and descendant of one or Norwalk’s original settlers.  He joined the Board of Directors of the Library Corporation in 1881 and became its President in 1884.  He continued as President of the Board of the Norwalk Public Library until his death in 1932.  As dedicated as Judge Light, he found time during a busy career to devote over 50 years service to his city’s library.

 The first Librarian of the Norwalk Public Library was Dotha Stone Pinneo, a teacher and lecturer.  She headed the Library from 1895 until 1919, when her career was cut short by an automobile accident outside the Library.

 The Carnegie Buildings

Though Norwalk was second to South Norwalk in founding a public library, it was the first to get building from Carnegie funds. Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, a great supporter of public libraries, gave money for a library building to any town or city that would promise to support the library at an annual rate equaling 10% of the building grant.  In 1901 the Norwalk Library applied for a grant and the City agreed to provide funding. The size of the Carnegie grant was a function of the population served, and Norwalk received a grant for $20,000.  Norwalk and South Norwalk were both very small cities at the time, each with a population of about 10,000.

 The Carnegie grants required the city to provide a suitable building lot and Hubert E. Bishop, grandson of George G. Bishop, a leading Norwalk manufacturer, donated a lot for the purpose.  The location, on the corner of Belden Ave. and Mott Ave., was just to the west of Norwalk’s central business district.  Prominent English architects W. and G. Audsley were chosen to design the building.  It was done in Tudor style, with steep gabled roofs and leaded-glass windows.  This was an unusual form for Carnegie libraries, which were more often Classically inspired.  The building was opened in April, 1903.

 A bronze plaque by the front door commemorates the construction:

 This Library Presented
To the
City of Norwalk
By
Andrew Carnegie Esq.
1902
Site Presented by a Citizen of
Norwalk.

 In 1908 the South Norwalk Library also applied for a Carnegie grant, finding their old building increasingly unsuitable. Supported by the City of South Norwalk, the Library also received a $20,000 grant.  Due to problems in finding a suitable lot the Carnegie grant was not used until 1911, when a location on the corner of West Washington St. and Franklin St. was purchased. The new building, designed by Boston architect W. H. McLean in Greek Revival style, was opened in 1913. 

 1913-World War II.

In 1913, with both libraries now settled in their own Carnegie buildings, the cities of South Norwalk and Norwalk were united politically as one city.  Unfortunately, competing local interests remained strong enough to prevent unification of many municipal functions, such as water, electricity, and libraries.  The Norwalk Library was taken over by the First Taxing District and the South Norwalk Library by the Second Taxing District, areas approximately the same as that of the earlier separate cities.  Free library service was provided only to citizens of the local Taxing District.   The opportunity to build a unified library system, free to all Norwalk citizens, was lost.

 In addition to the Norwalk and South Norwalk libraries, by 1915 Norwalk had two other public libraries, Rowayton (founded in 1913) and East Norwalk (founded 1915).  They were much smaller than the Carnegie libraries, and, like them, served only their local residents.

 In 1913 the Norwalk and South Norwalk libraries were each about the same size, serving a similar population, each with holdings of about 10,000 books.  Both Carnegie buildings were built in residential areas just outside the centers of their respective cities, designed to serve a population that lived within walking distance of the Library.  Through the 1920’s and 30’s the libraries’ surroundings remained largely residential.

 Book circulation dropped during World War II, but increased sharply as the country returned to normal in the 1940’s.  In 1947 the Norwalk Library held about 27,000 books while South Norwalk had over 36,000. The population of Norwalk as a whole increased rapidly in this period, with housing developments spreading farther from the city centers. Having been built to serve a much smaller population, the Carnegie library buildings were now overcrowded.  Increasing car ownership made the lack of parking space near the buildings a problem

 In 1948 the South Norwalk Library underwent a major renovation, adding an extension on the rear of the building.  The basement was remodeled to provide a new children’s room.  In 1950 the Norwalk Library created a little more usable space by furnishing their basement auditorium as a children’s room.

 These measures were not enough to provide the space and services needed by a city of Norwalk’s size, and the funds supplied by the two Taxing Districts were limited.  A 1961 survey of Norwalk’s libraries pointed out that with its fragmented library system over half the population of Norwalk still had no free public library service.

 In 1966 a more comprehensive survey was done for the City by the American Library Association. The survey recommended a city-wide library system.  For short-term improvement one of the larger libraries, either Norwalk or South Norwalk, could be used as a main library.   In the long run the survey advocated a new building, as none of the existing libraries was big enough to serve as a main library. 

The City-wide Library

To implement these recommendations, in 1970 the City of Norwalk took over the Norwalk Public Library from the First Taxing District, with the aim of making it the Main Library of a city-wide system.  In 1975 the City took over the South Norwalk Library from the Second Taxing District, adding it as a branch to the Norwalk Main Library. The Board of Directors of the city-wide Library included members from the First and the Second Taxing Districts and members chosen at large by the Mayor.

 The Director of the new city-wide Library was Donald Yazgoor, who had become Head Librarian of the Norwalk Library in 1966.  Described as a “young, aggressive, dynamic librarian”, he spent the next thirty years expanding and improving the Norwalk Library.

 The city-wide library needed a library building and the Norwalk Library on Belden Ave. was the most central location.  The question was whether to expand the old building, to replace it with a totally new building on the same site, or to build in a in a new location with space for adequate parking. The decision was to save most of the 1903 building but attach to it a much larger addition.  The semi-circular stack rotunda at the back of the Carnegie building was removed, two houses on Mott St. demolished, and a new two-story library built next to the old building.  The purchase of the two lots on Mott St. was made possible by a donation from the estate of Frank and Lena Chase.

 The new Library was completed in March of 1982 with the Carnegie building being used for Library offices.  The architect, John Gaydosh, joined the old building to the new with a central entranceway on Mott Ave.  The Belden Ave. entrance to the Carnegie building was closed and the front steps removed.  The expansion included a small parking lot, inadequate even at the time.

 Just as the builders of the Carnegie libraries did not foresee the need for parking, the architects of the 1982 building did not foresee the computer revolution.  Almost as soon as the building was finished the interior had to be adapted for increasing automation.  By 1990 the Library had rewired the new building, installed a computer system for cataloging and circulation, and closed the card catalog. 

 In 1995 the Main Library had to remodel the basement to provide space for its rapidly expanding audio-visual collection, as the circulation of music, recorded books and movies began to rival that of books.  In this year the Library tragically lost its Director, Don Yazgoor, when he was murdered during a robbery.  He had guided the Library in its transition from local library to a modern city-wide library system.  Modernization and growth has continued under his successor, Les Kozerowitz, who has led the Norwalk Library since 1995.

 South Norwalk

During the last half of the 20^th-century the residential neighborhoods surrounding both Norwalk and South Norwalk libraries changed drastically.  Residents moved farther away from the old city centers and older homes were razed for commercial use.  Declining employment was particularly felt in South Norwalk as its industrial base eroded rapidly after World War II.  Library use declined as the South Norwalk Library building became less and less serviceable as a modern library. 

 In the 1990s proposals were made to close the South Norwalk building, but this was met with strong resistance by the citizens of South Norwalk, still proud of their own Carnegie Library.  Instead the building underwent a complete renovation, adding access for the disabled and remodeling the second-floor auditorium, which had long been closed as a fire hazard.  The Library, reopened in 2006, retains the exterior beauty of the Carnegie building and much of its original interior decoration. 

 Present and Future

The current Norwalk Public Library system, with its Main Library on Belden Ave. and its Branch Library in South Norwalk, has about 280,000 items in its collection and a circulation of about 500,000 a year. In addition to its material resources, the Library has dozens of public computers with free internet access.  Its programs for children include story times, homework help, and a chess club; and for adults, book discussions, lectures, and computer training (in English and in Spanish).  It also provides meeting space for community groups.

 What does the future hold?  The East Norwalk and Rowayton libraries still function entirely separately from the Norwalk Public Library – perhaps in the future they may become additional branch libraries within the system, or at least share in a common computer catalog.  The future of libraries themselves are in doubt – the internet has drastically reduced the need for library reference materials, and online downloading of music and movies will no doubt reduce the current audio-visual circulation.  Improvements in digital books, such as the Amazon Kindle, may well reduce book circulation as well.

 One thing the internet cannot replace is the library as a cultural meeting place – a place where information can not only be accessed but shared and discussed with others.  It is, as was envisioned by the 1887 founders of the South Norwalk Library Corporation, a place where people can pass their time “pleasantly and profitably”, free to all.  As a public space for an entire community a library is a unique resource that should survive even in the computer age.

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