HR1049 LRB094 19979 HSS 57393 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois offer our sincere congratulations to the
4 Elmhurst Public Library on 90 years of service to the Elmhurst
5 community; and
 
6     WHEREAS, The library opened on March 22, 1916, during a
7 heavy snowstorm and had over 100 residents show up to get
8 library cards; and
 
9     WHEREAS, In the beginning, the library had 830 books and
10 was only open 10 hours per week; and
 
11     WHEREAS, The Elmhurst Library was first located in a room
12 at the north end of the Glos building on York Street and Park
13 Avenue, which it rented for $150 per month; and
 
14     WHEREAS, Katharine Breitenbach, the first librarian, was
15 paid a salary of $15 per month, and $5 a month was paid for
16 janitor services; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Within one year, the library's collection had
18 grown to 1,507 volumes and 12 magazine subscriptions; there
19 were 643 registered borrowers and books had circulated 10,400
20 times; and
 
21     WHEREAS, During World War I, the library distributed food
22 pamphlets and government bulletins and collected, with the help
23 of school children, over 1,000 books for soldiers' camps; and
 
24     WHEREAS, In 1919, the Library Board appointed a committee
25 to look for land suitable for a public library building, and in
26 1922, the library moved to the first floor of the former Wilder
27 home, which was purchased along with an acre of land from the
28 Park District for $14,000; and
 

 

 

HR1049 - 2 - LRB094 19979 HSS 57393 r

1     WHEREAS, After moving to its new location, story hours were
2 given throughout the year, and according to a report in the
3 Elmhurst Press, during the 1923-24 school year over 1,200
4 children from first to sixth grade attended story hours; and
 
5     WHEREAS, The second floor of the library was opened in 1923
6 for community groups such as the Elmhurst Woman's Club and the
7 Girl Scouts to meet for a fee of $10 a month, and at that time
8 many of the library books were purchased from Marshall Field
9 and Company; and
 
10     WHEREAS, A new head librarian, Grace Murray, was hired in
11 1926, and the library extended its hours to all day Monday
12 through Saturday, except at lunch and dinner time, and that
13 same year the library purchased a telephone, and residents were
14 encouraged to call "Elmhurst 1245" for information about books
15 and library services; and
 
16     WHEREAS, By 1927, over 2,100 people were registered
17 borrowers, and the library held 6,431 volumes; additional hours
18 caused the library's circulation to jump to 50,019 that year;
19 and
 
20     WHEREAS, After a fire in 1930, the building was rewired and
21 redecorated, and for the first time part of the second floor
22 was used for an adult fiction collection; and
 
23     WHEREAS, As part of Elmhurst's Centennial celebrations in
24 1936, the cornerstone of a library addition was laid; the
25 remodeling project took eight months to complete, and a new
26 children's room was added increasing the size of the building
27 to 10,750 square feet at a cost of $36,000; and
 
28     WHEREAS, On February 1, 1937, when the library reopened for
29 regular business, 954 books were checked out that day alone;

 

 

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1 and
 
2     WHEREAS, During World War II, the Elmhurst Public Library
3 joined Elmhurst College and York High School libraries in the
4 nation-wide Victory Book Drive, and Elmhurst citizens
5 collected thousands of books for soldiers at USO centers,
6 military camps, and training stations; and
 
7     WHEREAS, In 1963, the citizens of Elmhurst voted to approve
8 a $500,000 bond issue to build an addition to the library, the
9 addition increased the size of the building to 42,750 square
10 feet and was dedicated on October 17, 1965; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Beginning in the late 1970s, cassettes, videos,
12 audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, computers and Internet access were
13 added; in 1994, the card catalog was replaced with computer
14 catalogs; and
 
15     WHEREAS, A new library was built and opened on October 4,
16 2003; the new building offers more space for books, more public
17 computers, meeting rooms, quiet and group study rooms, a
18 computer training lab, and wireless Internet access; and
 
19     WHEREAS, The Elmhurst Public Library has grown with the
20 Elmhurst community and worked over the years to provide
21 state-of-the-art facilities and materials; therefore, be it
 
22     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
23 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
24 we do hereby offer our congratulations to Elmhurst Public
25 Library on its 90th anniversary; and be it further
 
26     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
27 presented to the Elmhurst Public Library, the Elmhurst Public
28 Library Board of Trustees, Mayor Thomas Marcucci, City of
29 Elmhurst, and the Aldermen of Elmhurst.