Digital Bob Archive

Fund raisers for a variety of public purposes have been among the undertakings Juneauites have engaged in almost since the town got started, and foremost of the fund raisers, both in community effort and in the results, was the drive to raise money for the construction of the Juneau Memorial Library.

The public library was founded by the Juneau Draper Club in 1914, taken over by the City of Juneau two years later, and in 1918 moved into two rooms on the second floor of the old City Hall at Fourth and Main Streets. By the end of World War II the two rooms were badly overcrowded.

It was on August 28, 1945, at a regular meeting of the Juneau Rotary Club that the Rev. Herbert Hillerman, the club president, announced that a library building would head the club's projects in the post-war years. It would serve as a memorial and tribute to the veterans of the World Wars.

Three men, B.D. Stewart, the Territorial Commissioner of Mines; James C. Ryan, Territorial Commissioner of Education, and B. Frank Heintzleman, Regional Forester, were named a committee to oversee the project and they worked tirelessly during the next half dozen years to raise the funds and build the library.

The first task was to select and procure a site. The south half of Block 20, bounded by Main and Fourth Streets and Calhoun Avenue, was selected and negotiations began with the owners. A price of $12,000 was set, including the dwelling occupied by Harry Olds and his family. The Rotary Club contributed $1,215.15 and the Juneau Women's Club put in $1,333. The balance of $9,451.85 was borrowed from a bank on a note cosigned by ten Juneau residents. The deed was delivered to the committee on April 29, 1946.

The fund raising campaign began in 1947 and lasted for three years. The Kiwanis Club started it off with a $500 gift and other service and fraternal organizations began to take part, as well as most business firms and many individuals. It was a monumental effort, employing just about every type of fundraising activity imaginable - dances, bake sales, plays, musical events, candy sales, raffles with door-to-door ticket sales, special movies, and perhaps some that have been forgotten. The Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood exhibited tribal dances that had not been seen in Juneau for many a year, and the Filipino Community gave a special dance exhibition and costume exhibition.

In all, $82,000 was raised locally. In terms of today's dollars, that would be in the neighborhood of $400,000. Then there was a grant-in-aid of $70,000 from the Federal Public Works Administration. The architectural firm of Foss & Malcolm provided the plans and Triplett & Dalzelle got the building contract on a bid of $124,000. The ground-breaking was on September 10, 1950, with former longtime librarian Ann Coleman turning the first shovel of earth. The building was dedicated on Sunday November 11,1951, and was opened for library service the next day.