| HISTORIC HOQUIAM Downtown
HOQUIAM LIBRARY
John James, Hoquiam's first settler, recalled in his memoirs an encounter which aptly, albeit unknowingly, identifies him as Hoquaim's first "librarian:"
One evening Humptulips Pete (an Indian) was sitting by my fire. He asked me about the change in mood and tides. I got Ayres' Almanac and explained it to him. He told the Quinaults that the James's had everything in the house to find out about anything you mind to ask them about such as the tides, the moon, and where the ships would go when they went away on the ocean to other lands.
Although not exactly circulating, James's small 1860s home collection of books in effect served as Hoquiam's first public library.
By 1908, the Young Men's Progressive Club, formed to campaign for a variety of improvements within Hoquiam, chose as a primary project to lobby for the building of a Carnegie Library. The well-known Hoquiam timberman and industrialist Frank Lamb became chairman of this movement, and soon a committee of people from the City Council, School Board, Commercial Club, and Woman's Club began exploring the possibility of establishing the new library.
Under the authorization of the City Council, the Mayor appointed Hoquiam's first Library Board of Trustees in October of 1908. Lamb, one of five appointed trustees, immediately began corresponding with Andrew Carnegie's secretary, James Bertram, who was in charge of Carnegie's library building program.
While waiting for word on the status of its request for Carnegie monies, Hoquiam's Public Library was established in the former home of R.D. Merrill at the corner of 7th & K Streets.
Carnegie ultimately granted the city $20,000 in May of 1910 to build a new library on the site of the Merrill home. Hoquiam contractor Fred Knack secured the bid to build the library an construction began. Formal dedication of the new prairie-style building took place on August 25, 1911.
Captions:
The library's main entrance changed from K Street to 7th Street in 1990 following a major renovation and addition project.
Hoquiam's first public library was this building, originally built in 1899 as the home of R.D. Merrill of the Merrill & Ring Co. In preparation for building the new Carnegie library, this structure was moved to the 400 block of J Street (it was again moved in the early 1950s - this time to the 200 block of K Street - to make way for the Central Elementary School playfield).
The library under construction in 1911 - note the narrow-guage tracks running through K Street. The rails were used to transport materials used in paving Hoquiam's streets.
Librarian Helen Corbitt and Miss Alice Channer, Storyteller, pose with children in the library, 1924.
This sign was funded through donations to the Friends of the Hoquiam Timberland Library in memory of long-time library supporter Dorothea Parker. |