In the summer of 1979, the St. Cloud Public Lbrary moved from its 1902 Carnegie building at 124 Fifth Avenue South to a successor building at 405 West Germain Street. This photograph shows a moving truck loaded with book carts transferring library materials. The National Guard assisted with the move.
A moving truck is parked behind the St. Cloud Public Library building. Behind the truck is the former Unity Church, which was purchased by the City of St. Cloud in 1936 and renamed the Community Building. Stearns County Library occupied this structure from the early 1940s until the creation of the Great River Regional Library system in 1969, after which it housed the Branch and Bookmobile Department of GRRL.
View of Mitchell Hall across the Mississippi River, woman sits at riverfront looking across. Mitchell Hall was completed in 1958 as a dormitory for women. The building was named for William B. Mitchell, who served as St. Cloud State's resident director from 1877 to 1901.
Library service to this area of Hennepin County began in the late 1800s, when the library was housed in office space in the Fletcher-Loring Flour Mill at Minnetonka Mills. For over a century, the library operated out of various locations in the community. The first permanent location opened on Excelsior Boulevard in 1989.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library
A reproduction of a slide show and audio cassette created in the 1970's to educate library staff and to promote Minitex services. As part of the Minitex 50th Anniversary, the video was edited in 2021 by Carol Nelson with assistance from former Minitex staff Kathy Drozd, Dave Paulson, and Mark Eckes. Topics in the presentation include: Minitex resource sharing among libraries, the Minitex Union List of Serials, the technology used to communicate between libraries for resource sharing, the Minitex Reference and Information Network, Minitex workshops and training sessions, and how Minitex was initially funded.
Milaca Community Library's first home was in the village hall when it joined East Central Regional Library in 1959-1968. In 1986, when the city moved its offices to the public works building, the library was offered the entire main floor of its former home. Founded in 1959, ECRL is the oldest existing regional public library system in Minnesota. Headquartered in Cambridge, it is a consolidated library system with 14 libraries and Outreach Services and serves residents in Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, and Pine counties.
Margaret Talbert was the Milaca Community Library Branch Librarian from 1962-1982 in Milaca, Minnesota. Founded in 1959, ECRL is the oldest existing regional public library system in Minnesota. Headquartered in Cambridge, it is a consolidated library system with 14 libraries and Outreach Services and serves residents in Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, and Pine counties.
This is the entrance to the St. Cloud Public Library's Carnegie building which stood at 124 Fifth Avenue South from 1902 until it was torn down in 1981.