Bellville Pub Lib 221 Wash Av Belleville, NJ 07109 jeh

The Belleville Public Library and Information Center is the free public library of

Belleville, New Jersey Belleville (French: "Belle ville" meaning "Beautiful city / town") is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population wa ...

located at 221 Washington Avenue. Serving a population of approximately 36,000 the library in 2011 included a collection of 105,452 volumes and had a circulation of about 39,000 items per year.

History and architecture

Belleville's library was started in a storefront by a volunteer organization, the Tuesday Afternoon Reading Club. By 1909, a site at Academy and Washington Streets was acquired from the municipality and Charles Granville Jones, a local architect who also designed the town hall, Methodist church, First National Bank, and old high school, was hired. Opened in 1911, with an additional stacks area added in 1929, it is one of New Jersey's original thirty-six Carnegie libraries, constructed with a grant of $20,000 made on April 28, 1909 by the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, still in use. In 1981, an addition was attached to the original building thus obscuring the pediment and columns at the library's entrance. Many of the Carnegie Room's original details were hidden by 1970s modernizations that also concealed severe water damage. In the early 1990s, new systems were installed and the Carnegie Room was redecorated under the guidance of James J. Cozzarelli, Jr, a library trustee for whom the Children's Room is named. Taking inspiration from its original architectural details, Cozzarelli choose to apply new surfaces and commissioned a series of paintings for the ceiling that tells the ''"dramatic tale of a young man's search for wisdom"'' Evaluated by the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office in 1976 the building was not listed on the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

or the

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

registers of historic places

References

External links

Belleville Public Library and Information CenterHistoric photos of Belleville LibraryBergen County Coopertaive Library SystemVillage of Second RiverBellvile Patch
{{coord, 40.788587, -74.152533, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title Library buildings completed in 1911 Carnegie libraries in New Jersey Buildings and structures in Essex County, New Jersey Neoclassical architecture in New Jersey 1911 establishments in New Jersey

History and architecture

See also

References

External links