The Rock Island Public Library is located in downtown Rock Island, Illinois. The Rock Island Public Library traces its beginnings to 1872, making it one the oldest public libraries in Illinois. However, fee-based public libraries started in 1855 in Rock Island and have contributed to the history of Illinois' original library system.
Association Library 1855-1857
On June 23, 1855 Joseph B. Danforth, the editor of the Rock Island Republican printed an editorial explaining four reasons why Rock Island needed to start a public library. The following week, on June 27, 1855, an anonymous letter was published in the Rock Island Argus, formerly the Republican, offering to give $100 to build a book collection if nine other men would promise to give $100 and if the city promised to give the ten men lifelong membership and a building to store the books. Because nine other men did not step forward to provide the funds needed to reach the $1,000 required to build a collection, Rock Island's citizens decided to have a meeting on September 15, 1855, to decide how a library could be created in Rock Island. The meeting created the Rock Island Library and Reading Room Association, a board of officers and a committee to draft a constitution. Since Illinois law did not include a provision that allowed the city to tax the residents to fund a library, the board of officers decided the library would be open to the "public" as long the man was a Rock Island resident and could pay the yearly membership fee. By the end of the September 15 meeting, the men had raised $500 from their own personal funds, set up another committee designed to raise money for the library and a fee schedule. The library fees ranged from $3.00 for a yearly membership to $100 for a family lifetime membership as long as the children were under 21 years old. For unexplained reasons, the Association Library closed by the end of 1857, forcing library members to store the books in their own homes for safekeeping until another library would open in 1865.
Young Men's Literary Association 1865-1871
On January 12, 1865, a notice printed in the Rock Island Argus informed the public that there would be a meeting on the 16th for the purpose of creating a new library. An informal constitution and library board was created before the meeting in the hope that a new library would be created. The first meeting of the Young Men’s Literary Association was on January 23, 1865, and that night the constitution was adopted and officers were elected. The yearly membership fee was set at $3.00 per year. After setting the business of the library, the next step was to retrieve all of the books that were left at former members' homes when the Library Association closed in 1859, leaving about 1,500 books available for checkout. Almost 1,000 books were never recovered and were lost forever in former members' homes. In April 1866, the library opened six days a week, closing on Sunday. In 1868, the library hired Miss Ellen Gale as the new librarian. In 1872, the Young Men's Literary Association helped start the free Rock Island Public Library by giving the new public library their entire book collection.
Rock Island Public Library 1872-1901
In 1872, the Illinois State Legislature created a law giving city councils the power to tax citizens for public library funding, effectively creating the public library system in Illinois. The Rock Island City Council was quick to implement the new tax, and the Rock Island Public Library opened its doors on November 25, 1872 with Miss Gale as the head librarian. Miss Gale worked for the Rock Island Public Library for 64 years, the longest tenure of any librarian in the history of Illinois. The public library was able to open its doors so quickly due to the gift of supplies and books from the Young Men’s Literary Association, the community's fee-based library from 1865-1871. The new public library also took over the association's library's rooms on the second floor of the Mitchell & Lynde Building on Eagle Street. (The location now holds a bank building.) The Rock Island City Library and Reading Room Association occupied these rooms from 1855-1859. The library board decided that for all citizens to be able to use the library it had to be open seven days a week, since many people only had Sundays off. By the end of the first two weeks the library had checked out more than 1,000 books. To increase space for both books and patrons, the library board decided to rent another room.
