Minneapolis Central Library, a library in downtown

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, is the largest library of the

Hennepin County Library Hennepin County Library is a public library system serving Hennepin County, Minnesota, US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban Minneapolis Public Library and suburban Hennepin County Library on Ja ...

public library system. It bills itself as having "the third largest per capita public library collection of any major city in America with a collection of more than 2.4 million items—including books, DVDs, music, government documents."About Minneapolis Central Library
The building at 300 Nicollet Mall with two levels of underground parking was designed by César Pelli and opened on May 20, 2006. It has over 300 computers for use by the public, an atrium, an

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

planted with low-growing ground cover designed to "be sun- and drought-resistant", and a host of energy-efficiency measures. Minneapolis-Public-Library-190n

History

The predecessor of Minneapolis's public library was a subscription library called the Minneapolis Athenæum founded in 1859. The

Minneapolis Public Library The Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) was a library system that served the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Library Board by an amendment to the Minneapolis ...

was founded in 1885 and its first task was to build a main library. The first central library of the "Minneapolis Public Library" (also known as the main library) was built in 1889 along Tenth Street and Hennepin Avenue about six blocks south of the current building.Benidt, Bruce Weir, ''The Library Book, Centennial History of the Minneapolis Public Library'', 1984, p. 40 The library contained an art gallery primarily of work from the collection of library benefactor

T. B. Walker Thomas Barlow Walker (February 1, 1840 – July 28, 1928) was an American business magnate who acquired lumber in Minnesota and California and became an collection (artwork), art collector. Walker founded the Minneapolis Public Library. He was amon ...

. After many decades the library was considered overcrowded and out of date and plans began for a new library at a different location. The Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center (MPLIC), opened on January 28, 1961 at 4th St. and Nicollet Ave. (the site of the current building). The new four-story glass-and-steel building replaced the old stone castle-like one, which was torn down (the space is now a parking lot). The building included a library, as well as a planetarium, auditorium, and a small museum in its basement which became famous to school children for its Egyptian mummies. The new location in the then run-down "lower loop" district made the library a "cornerstone" of the 1960 redevelopment of downtown Minneapolis.Benidt, Bruce Weir, ''The Library Book, Centennial History of the Minneapolis Public Library'', 1984, pp. 169, 172, 173 Thirty years later library and community leaders again began to build support for a new, bigger library. Construction on the third and current library began (on the same location as the demolished second building) after Minneapolis voters approved a $140 million in funding to improve library services on November 7, 2000. The new building was designed by César Pelli, along with the Minneapolis firm Architectural Alliance, and opened to the public on May 20, 2006. At a cost of $250 per square foot, the library features a roof garden and substantial daylight. Its storage area was designed to be available to the public without staff assistance so that nearly all of the collection is accessible to the public. Between the closing of the second library and the opening of the new building, most services were provided at the interim "Central Library Marquette" location, on two floors in

Marquette Plaza Marquette Plaza is a highrise in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, located at 250 Marquette Avenue. Design Designed by Gunnar Birkerts, it was home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1973 to 1997 (hence, many people re ...

(formerly the

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

). The cost of providing the interim site while the old library was demolished and rebuilt exceeded $10 million. The

system, which consisted of 14 branch libraries in addition to Central, joined the 26-library

system on January 1, 2008. The administration for the unified library system remained at Ridgedale Library in

Minnetonka Minnetonka ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about west of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 53,781. Minnetonka is the ...

. The

Minneapolis Planetarium Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Society was at the second MPLIC building using a projector machine literally older than the

space age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 during 1957, and continuin ...

itself (delivered and installed originally in 1954, three years before the launch of

Sputnik I Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

). In 2005, the Minnesota Legislature apportioned funding for the inclusion of a planetarium in the new Central Library building. The

Minnesota Planetarium The Minnesota Planetarium Society (MNPS) was a Minnesota-based organization for the promotion of and education in astronomy. In September 2011, it was absorbed by the Bell Museum of Natural History and the society no longer exists. ''Bell Museum ...

was originally planned for the roof of the new building but was instead added to the plans for the new

Bell Museum of Natural History The Bell Museum, formerly known as the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, is located at the University of Minnesota. The museum's new location on the St. Paul campus opened July 13–15, 2018. The world-renowned Minnesota wildlife dioram ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

References

External links

{{commons category
Minneapolis Central Library website
Hennepin County Library César Pelli buildings Minneapolis Public Library Libraries in Minnesota

History

See also

References

External links