The East Portland Branch, Public Library of Multnomah County housed part of the

library system A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The stat ...

, from 1911 to 1967. Designed by architect A. E. Doyle, the structure was completed in 1911 in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

at 1110 Southeast Alder Street in the city's central eastside. Funded in part by the Carnegie Foundation, the original building consisted of one floor and a daylight basement and included reading rooms for children and adults. The building had a red brick exterior,

terra-cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware object ...

trim, and a roof of green Spanish tiles. Remodeled in 1956 and remodeled again prior to its sale in 1967, the one-story building, which had rooms high, became a two-story office building. From 1864 until 1902, Portland had

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...

libraries that were open to the public, but it had no tax-supported public library. In 1902, the library system became tax-supported, free, and open to all Portland residents. A year later, it was opened to all residents of

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

. Within months of the change from subscription library to free public library, the number of users grew from 1,000 members to 8,000 registered borrowers. The subscription libraries had reading rooms only in

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildi ...

. To accommodate the growing number of users, the new library established reading rooms in other parts of the city. By 1907, it had neighborhood branches in Sellwood, Albina, and the central eastside neighborhood. Doyle designed a small temporary building for the eastside branch before money became available for the permanent structure.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:East Portland Branch, Public Library Of Multnomah County 1911 establishments in Oregon A. E. Doyle buildings Buildings and structures in Buckman, Portland, Oregon Carnegie libraries in Oregon Former library buildings in the United States Libraries established in 1911 Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Library buildings completed in 1911 Multnomah County Library National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon Portland Historic Landmarks 1967 disestablishments in Oregon