The Hearst Free Library has been in continuous use as a library since its construction in 1898. Today it contains 39,000 books and serves a population of over 9,000. The library circulates over 32,000 items per year.
The library is a large and stately building on the southeast corner of Main and Fourth Streets, across the intersection from Kennedy Common.
Phoebe Hearst, wife of Senator George Hearst, was the one solely responsible for the library's being built at all. Interested in improving Anaconda’s cultural side, she asked the town what they should like as a gift. When they did not reply she suggested a library. They responded that that was what they had in mind but thought it too extravagant a gift to ask for. This genuinely endeared the town and its people to Phoebe and the library was designed and built forthwith.
Hearst Free Library
It is not boastful to say that, in respect to architecture, the new Hearst Free Library is the most satisfactory building of its class in this part of the world. It is of handsome proportion; the style adopted for its construction is carefully preserved throughout; it has character; in outline it is well suited to the site: It reveals the evidences of thorough construction; it looks like a library. Thus the building is in pleasant contrast with too much of the construction in this region that glories in a hodge-podge of building material piled up in broken lines which the local public is cordially invited to call architecture. It is gratifying to know that the library is henceforth to have its home in a building whose exterior is so pleasing.
Hearst Free Library
The Hearst Free Library is a beautiful example of a classic library built at the turn of the 20th century. No expense was spared. The doors were open to the public on June 1, 1898, and remain open and ready to serve the reading community of Anaconda--more than a century later.
Phoebe Hearst, wife of George Hearst and mother of William Randolph Hearst, had a great affection for the town of Anaconda. She offered to build a library for its citizens. They accepted the offer, knowing that a library would give the people a chance to better themselves.
Mrs. Hearst always had in mind something more than a public library. She intended her library to be a public space, one where the people of Anaconda could go to read, as well as enjoy the finer things life had to offer. She not only supplied the beautiful building with books, but also filled it with original and valuable pieces of art. It was a cultural center for a town that knew how to work hard.
Mrs. Hearst maintained the library until she handed the keys over to the City of Anaconda in 1904, relinquishing her day to day control of the library. She did however see to it that the library received an annual gift of books.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County has maintained the library for more than a hundred years. It has done so through boom times and bust. The library relies on the citizens of Anaconda for its financial as well as moral support.
Due to the high level of service that the library currently offers and the cherished memories of thousands of Anacondans, the library continues to thrive.
From the Hearst Free Library