The Midland Library is a branch of the

Multnomah County Library Multnomah County Library is the public library system serving Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A continuation of the Library Association of Portland, established in 1864, the system now has 19 branches offering books, magazine ...

, in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. The branch offers the Multnomah County Library catalog of two million books, periodicals and other materials.

History

Bookmobile A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...

s, reading rooms, and small branch libraries provided much of the public library service to Portland neighborhoods in the first half of the 20th century. A library study in 1955 recommended switching to a system of larger branches supported by sub-branches and bookmobiles. The large Midland branch opened at S.E. 122nd Avenue and S.E. Morrison Street in 1958 and was the second branch in the county system to serve suburban residents. Oregon authors present at its dedication included

Stewart Holbrook Stewart Hall Holbrook (1893–1964) was an American logger, writer, and popular historian. His writings focused on what he called the "Far Corner": Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A self-proclaimed "low-brow" historian, his topics included Etha ...

Dorothy Johansen Dorothy Olga Johansen (19 May 1904 – 13 December 1999) was an American historian of the Pacific Northwest. Life and work Dorothy Johansen was born in Seaside, Oregon on 19 May 1904. She taught school in Oregon from 1922 to 1927 and then in Ya ...

, and others. The building cost $90,000; it initially housed 12,000 volumes, with plans to extend the collection to 20,000. The building offered bicycle racks. By the early 1960s, the library floor area had been expanded to . Until the 1990 opening of the new

Gresham Library The Gresham Library, also known as the Gresham Regional Library, is a branch of the Multnomah County Library in Gresham in the U.S. state of Oregon. The branch offers the Multnomah County Library catalog of two million books, periodicals and othe ...

building (13 times the size of the building it replaced), the Midland was considered the second busiest in the county system, after Portland's Central Library. In 1993, Multnomah County voters agreed to spend $5.3 million for a new Midland Library building at the same site along S.E. 122nd Avenue. Thomas Hacker and Associates was the architectural firm for the project and Silco Construction the general contractor. The new library opened on September 16, 1996. It has a floor area of and can hold up to 150,000 books.

References

External links

Midland Library
Multnomah County Library {{Authority control 1958 establishments in Oregon Libraries established in 1958 Libraries in Portland, Oregon Library buildings completed in 1958 Library buildings completed in 1996 Multnomah County Library Southeast Portland, Oregon

History

See also

References

External links