Cedar Rapids Public Library celebrates 125 years next month

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Cedar Rapids Public Library next month will mark its 125 year anniversary with exhibits and celebrations at its downtown and Ladd locations.

The exhibit at the Downtown Library’s third-floor gallery, 450 Fifth Ave. SE, will have a timeline of the library’s history. The exhibit at the Ladd Library, 3750 Williams Blvd. SE, will spotlight library branches and service delivery across Cedar Rapids.

The exhibits will be open Jan. 15 to March 13, and then switch locations for March 19 to May 28 viewing.

Both exhibits highlight the library’s legacy of providing access to books and information for all community residents, library staffers say.

Since the early days, the library staff brought library resources to the community, with branch libraries joining the main library. Book collects were set up in corner stores and factory break rooms in the 1910s and 1920s, and bookmobiles circulated in the 1960s.

The Jan. 15 celebration and exhibit opening will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include activities at both locations, including:

• Family-friendly craft stations

• A short library history film, screening throughout the day

• Commemorative bookmarks to take home and cookies, while supplies last

• A chance for visitors to share their library memories

• Additional library history and information displays to explore throughout the buildings

• Registration for the 125th Anniversary Community Reading Challenge. It involves the community collectively reading on 125,000 days next year. To sign up and be a part of the challenge, go to CRLibrary.beanstack.org in January. A Winter Reading Challenge also is available.

The history celebration will continue throughout 2022 with new episodes of a historic docuseries debuting on the Library’s Facebook and YouTube pages each month.

According to the library’s history, the Cedar Rapids Free Library opened its doors Jan. 15, 1897, with The Gazette reporting “throngs of people eager and glad to be there.”

The city was rapidly growing, with its population doubling between 1880 and 1890.

In 1895, Ada Van Vechten organized eight women’s literary clubs into the City Federation of Ladies Literacy Clubs. The women of the federation launched a campaign to establish a library.

Women couldn’t vote on many issues in 1894, but Iowa became one of only two states to pass legislation allowing women to vote on limited issues, including library levies. The levy passed by just 59 votes in an 1896 election.

The returns showed half the men who voted didn’t vote on the question at all and speculated the vote could be challenged on the grounds that “the women are illegal,” The Gazette reported, according to the library’s website.

The first librarian was a woman, Virginia Dodge, as were all the head librarians through 1949, according to the library’s history.

Dodge was from Oak Park, Ill., and had studied at Wellesley College and completed library school at Armour Institute. Her assistant and apprentice was Kathryn Canfield.

The Library has published a special history-focused commemorative edition of OPEN+ magazine. It is available at the Downtown and Ladd Libraries and online.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com