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LIBRARY HISTORY IN 1873 - 1924

March 4, 1873: The Public Library and Reading Room opened in the southeast corner of the first floor of the New City Hall.
1880: Col. James R. Kilbourne of the founding family of Worthington became a library trustee and served until 1910. He also was president of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
1886: Emilius O. Randall, co-founder of the Ohio Historical Society, became a library trustee and served through 1919. He was a prolific author of important Ohio histories.
March 1, 1888: The Library Board approves a contract with The Central Union Telephone Co. to install the first telephone at a cost of $12.50 per quarter.
December, 1892: The Library purchases its first typewriter on an installment plan.
October 16, 1895: Columbus City Council approved library addition to city hall.
1896: City Council appropriates funds for construciton of a one-story extension of the Library on a vacant lot to the east. The expanded Library includes a stack room, reading room, reference room and a librarian's office.
March 22, 1903: The Library's Board changes the name to the Columbus Public Library.
April 10, 1903: The mansion built by Noah Swayne at 96 South Grant Avenue is demolished for new site of the Main Library.
November 13, 1903: Groundbreaking ceremony for the new Main Library, made possible with a $200,000 gift from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
1907: The Library establishes deposit collections in fire houses, settlement houses and schools. These collections would be the forerunners of branch libraries.
1907: Special services for the blind are added.
April 8, 1907: The new Main Library opens to the public.
1908: The library's music collection begins courtesy of the Columbus Women's Music Club.
1909: The audio-visual program begins at the Main Library.
1912: Historian Daniel J. Ryan, who served as Ohio Secretary of State 1890-1892, was a library trustee until 1919.
1918: The influenza epidemic forces the library auditorium to close and seriously curtails library activities. Half the staff were stricken at one point.
1920: Annie N. Battelle became the first woman library trustee.
January, 1921: City Hall is destroyed by a fire. The Main Library houses City Hall until March 1928.
November 9, 1921: Library trustee Rabbi Joseph S. Kornfeld was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to Persia.

LIBRARY TIMELINE

Choose an era to learn more about the Columbus Metropolitan Library's history:
> 1873 to 1924
> 1925 to 1969
> 1970 to 1989
> 1990 to 1999
> 2000 to Present