West End Branch Library Celebrating 110th Birthday Today, Thursday, July 21
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| West End Branch Library is celebrating its 110th birthday and 15th year in its building at 1348 Tuscaloosa Avenue SW today, Thursday, July 21, 2022. |
The Birmingham Public Library's West End Branch Library turns 110 years old this year. Today, West End Branch is celebrating its birthday as well as its 15th year in its current building, 1348 Tuscaloosa Ave SW.
Patrons are invited to stop by between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. today for a slice of cake and to help us celebrate.
For more information about West End Branch, call (205) 226-4089 or drop by anytime. You can also follow us on the West End Branch Library Facebook page.
1908-1909
Andrew Carnegie donated $10,000 for the design and construction of the West End Library when West End was a separate municipality from Birmingham.
1912
The West End Library opened on April 1. When the town of West End was incorporated into the City of Birmingham, the West End Library became the third branch of the Birmingham Public Library. Following Avondale and Ensley, the West End Library became the third branch and the third Carnegie library in Jefferson County, Alabama.
This early library thrived during its 53 years of service to the community. The brick structure typified the Carnegie style and featured rich architectural details, including a domed roof, Ionic columns at the entrance, a pediment with a sculpture in relief, and an intricate ornamental entablature.
1960
To replace the aging Carnegie building, the City of Birmingham approved a bond issue for $109,000 and In 1960 when the old 13th Street Carnegie building had deteriorated beyond repair, the City of Birmingham approved a bond issue for $109,000 to fund a new library on the same site. The city hired architects Turner and Batson to design a new library and contractor Brice Building Company to construct it. This library was rotated to face the broader and busier Tuscaloosa Avenue. It was larger, had all the modern amenities that the old building lacked, and could hold 22,500 books and other library materials to accommodate its annual circulation of 100,000.
1962
On Sunday, December 9, the West End Library officially opened, complete with air-conditioning, 4,500 square feet of space, separate departments for adults and children, a meeting room for the public, a work room for the staff, and an office for the librarian.
1997
The library replaced its original heating and air-conditioning system after 35 years of use. In 2001, the Library Board and Administration chose an architect to design a new library to be built in the 1400 block of Tuscaloosa Avenue on the site of the old Masonic Temple. The temple, built in the 1920s and later added to the National Register of Historic Places, was destroyed in a fire in 1996 on New Year's Day.
2003
The Birmingham City Council accepted a bid to build a new $1.7 million West End Library. In September the library broke ground two blocks away on a new site where the old Masonic Temple had been destroyed by fire a few years before.
2007
In 2007, after years of planning, the all-new West End Library welcomes the community to a beautiful, state-of- the-art building. The Birmingham-based architect Khalil Engineering and contractor Eighteen Oaks completed the new library with a meeting room large enough for 75 people, a conference room, a new parking lot, and a clock tower above the entrance.
In the first decade of the 20th century, the rapidly expanding City of Birmingham took in the West End community and the Birmingham Public Library adopted the West End Library into the developing library system.
While planning the contemporary design of the new building, the architect and the library sought to preserve some of the on-site ruins from the historic Masonic structure. As a result of this effort, sections of the temple's Doric columns are incorporated into the lamp posts in the parking area and are also located in the historic plaza that commemorates the temple. Featured in the plaza are carved Masonic symbols that are remnants from the temple's original stone frieze.
A domed roof tops the new 8,200 square foot library building, and the clock tower at the entrance is certain to become a community landmark. The library includes a meeting room with space for 75 people, a smaller conference room, restrooms that conform to ADA regulations, a large foyer, and a circulation desk.
The West End Branch Library thrives under the care and attention of an enthusiastic and professional staff dedicated to providing excellent service, programs, and materials to the loyal and involved community it serves. The staff is committed to the Birmingham Public Library's mission to provide the highest quality library service and welcomes the opportunity to serve the patrons who have entrusted them with this responsibility.
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