Mead Public Library
| File:Mead Public Library.png | |
| Type | Public library |
|---|---|
| Established | 1897 |
| Location | 710 North 8th Street Sheboygan, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Collection | |
| Size | 341,251 (2013) |
| Access and use | |
| Members | 31,766 (2013) |
| Other information | |
| Budget | $2,377,053 (2013) |
| Director | Garrett Erickson |
| Website | www |
Mead Public Library is a municipal library in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and serves Sheboygan County. It is a member of the Eastern Shores Library System.
History
James H. Mead, from Montpelier, Vermont, came to Sheboygan in 1856. With his father-in-law, he founded and obtained a charter for the German Bank (later First Wisconsin-Sheboygan and now Firstar). At the time of his death in 1891, he was president of the German Bank and the Crocker Chair Company. He left $10,000 to the Congregational Church and $20,000 to the City of Sheboygan to be used to provide places "for the amusement and literary culture of young men," in the case of the gift to the city, for a public library.[1]
Library branches
During the early 1950s, the library built two branch libraries. Although Sheboygan had had many different branches over the years, these were the first constructed to serve as library branches. The first was the Frank Stone branch attached to Cooper Elementary School on the city's north side. Frank Stone was the first librarian of the Sheboygan Library Association. The second branch was named after Charles E. Broughton and was attached to Wilson Elementary School on the city's south side.
Current location
Early in 1964, the library board agreed that a new or expanded library building was needed and money for planning was requested of, and granted by, the Common Council in the next annual budget. A bond issue, containing $2.3 million for the construction of a new library, was approved by the Common Council in 1970. The city at this time was acquiring land for Plaza 8. The city planner at that time reported that some of this land, located at North 8th Street and New York Avenue, could be used as a library site.
The new and current 64,000 square-foot library opened in 1974. Before the opening, hundreds of high school students lugged 150,000 books from the old library to the new, one block to the west. Units of the Wisconsin National Guard and the Army Reserve moved heavy equipment with their trucks.
In April 1987, the city had planned to put downtown including Plaza 8, under one roof. Developer John Livesey proposed a $100 million enclosed shopping and office complex, to be called City Center.[2] The only buildings that would have remained in the City Center site were the Prange's store, Mead Public Library and Trinity Lutheran Church. Most of the other buildings would have been demolished by the city including the First Wisconsin Sheboygan Bank (now the U.S. Bank).
