Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch

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Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch
File:Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch.jpg
Front of the library
Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch is located in Kentucky
Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch
Location 604 S. 10th St., Louisville, Kentucky
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area less than one acre
Built 1907
Architect McDonald & Dodd; Lortz & Frey Planing Mill Co.
Architectural style Beaux Arts
NRHP Reference # 75000771[1]
Added to NRHP December 6, 1975

The Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch is a Carnegie library, the first public library built for African-Americans. Also known as Louisville Free Public Library, Western Branch, it is a branch of the Louisville Free Public Library system.[2]

History

The library was opened in 1905, originally located at 1125 West Chestnut Street in three rooms rented from a private residence. Albert Ernest Meyzeek, principal of Central High School at the time, was concerned about the lack of adequate reading and reference materials at the school.[3] He challenged the 1902 legislation that created the Louisville Free Public Library system, on the basis that it did not adequately serve African-Americans, and persuaded the city council to open a branch to fill this need.

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie donated funds to build a new library building, designed by McDonald & Dodd, which opened in 1908. The library was well received by the community and was proclaimed successful by the librarians.[4] The library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[1]

Several prominent African-American librarians worked in the Western Branch and assisted in educating and outreach to the local black community. Of particular note is Rachel Davis Harris, an female African-American librarian that was influential in providing services to the Louisville African-American community during the Jim Crow era in the south.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ It is not however the first Carnegie library built for African-Americans. Built in 1907 and opened the following year, it is predated by an academic library which opened in 1902 at Tuskegee University (a historically black university)
  3. ↑ "The Record of Albert Ernest Meyzeek" (1947). Negro History Bulletin, 10(8)p.186-187
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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