HR0488 LRB095 12130 KXB 37229 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The Glen Ellyn Public Library is 100 years old
3 this year; it was established in 1907 to provide an invaluable
4 resource to the then small community of Glen Ellyn; and
 
5     WHEREAS, In 1881, when Glen Ellyn was called Prospect Park,
6 the Library Association of Prospect Park was organized and
7 twenty people paid five dollars each to purchase 100 books from
8 a Harper Brother's salesman; 100 books were placed in a
9 bookcase and stored in the Congregational Church basement; in
10 1907, a group of ten women met to begin the Glen Ellyn Library
11 Association, and to raise money they held teas and charged a
12 ten-cent admission fee; the ladies of the Glen Ellyn Library
13 Association met with Bessie Baldwin, the Wheaton Library's
14 librarian, who instructed the committee on the preparation of
15 books for circulation; and
 
16     WHEREAS, In May 1907, the library opened to the subscribers
17 and fifty-six membership cards were issued; its collection
18 included those original 100 books plus 40 new books purchased
19 with the proceeds of on-going afternoon teas and donated
20 volumes; on July 23, 1907 the Glen Ellyn Library Association
21 was legally registered with the Secretary of State; and
 
22     WHEREAS, The Glen Ellyn Library grew from a small room in

 

 

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1 the Village Hall to the room above Boyd's Hardware store and,
2 in 1911, the library purchased the Nickerson house on
3 Pennsylvania Avenue; contact was made with Andrew Carnegie
4 about the construction of a library in Glen Ellyn; Mr.
5 Carnegie's grant of $10,000 came with two conditions: the
6 building site must be provided free and clear and the village
7 must assume the maintenance of the facility; the Library
8 Association secured the land at the corner of Park and Crescent
9 from the William Grimshaw family, George Awsumb was chosen as
10 architect, and construction was started on the new building;
11 and
 
12     WHEREAS, On September 14, 1914, the Glen Ellyn Free Public
13 Library, which could accommodate 5,000 books, opened to the
14 public; in April 1961, a second addition was added to the front
15 of the original Carnegie building, bringing the total shelf
16 capacity to 50,000 volumes; in 1980 a third addition was added;
17 and
 
18     WHEREAS, On December 16, 1995, a new library facility
19 opened to the public at its new location at the corner of Duane
20 and Prospect; the floor space is 52,000 square feet, which is
21 double the size of the old building; it has 210,000 items
22 housed in its collection; this came to be because of an idea
23 from ten women who retrieved 100 books from basement storage in
24 1907; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
2 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
3 congratulate the staff and patrons of the Glen Ellyn Public
4 Library on the 100th anniversary of the institution; and be it
5 further
 
6     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7 presented to the staff of the Glen Ellyn Public Library as a
8 symbol of our respect.