Palm Springs, CA: Welwood Murray Memorial LIbrary
N 33° 49.383 W 116° 32.806
11S E 541941 N 3742628
Once the main branch of the Palm Springs Public Library system, this location is now a private, non-profit library run by volunteers and is one of 10 libraries in the Coachella Valley.
Waymark Code: WM57C
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/23/2005
Views: 478
In July 2002, the City closed this branch and removed all the books. The very next day a newly incorporated non-profit foundation opened the site as a private library. Although there were 3,000 books before, the new library boasted more than 8,000 books, and donations for citizens continue to arrive on a daily basis. WMML is run by volunteers, including the trustees, who each serve as librarian one day a week, and hours vary from summer to winter, so it's best to call for details and "dark" days, including Sunday and Monday.
The history of this library is fascinating. On November 16, 1989, the “Save the Welwood Murray Memorial Library Committee” filed suit in the Fourth District Court of Appeal to prevent the city council of Palm Springs from selling the sale of library property to a developer. It’s a rather complicated case, but those interested in legal wrangling might enjoy reading the
document.
The WMML is located at 100 South Palm Canyon Drive and can be reached at 760-323-8296. The statue out front is called The Entertainer and was produced by local artist
John Kennedy. A politics-free plaque on the wall reads, “In 1938 George Welwood Murray donated this land to provide for a library as a memorial to his father, Welwood Murray, pioneer hotel operator. Cornelia White donated an additional strip of property on the eastern end of the site. The existing structure, designed by
John Porter Clark and constructed by Charles Chamberlin, opened as the first permanent home of the Palm Springs Public Library in February 1941. With the completion of the Library Center at Sunrise Plaza in October 1975, the Welwood Memorial Library became the downtown branch” and can be viewed in the gallery.
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