History of the Manitou Springs Public Library

  Manitou’s first library was established in 1900, in the Parish House of the St. Andrews Episcopal Church. The Reverend E.C. Bonell, rector of the church, organized a club of twelve women, including several from each church in the town of Manitou Springs. This club established the library in the church, which is now occupied by the Nothing New Antique Shop, located at 116 Canon Avenue by the bridge over Fountain Creek. Having no money to buy books, they asked for donations of books or money. After they had received three to four hundred books, they opened the library, and the women of the group took turns in keeping it. The library was aptly named a Reading Room, for many people spent hours there in the little Parish House.

  At the turn of the century Manitou Springs had gained the reputation as a fashionable resort spa, with many tourists staying the entire summer. The D & RG railroad built a spur into town, and the main line of the Colorado Midland also ran through the town. There were many elegant hotels, small stately castles, and two natural stone churches, not to mention a sprinkling of saloons and livery barns.

As the town began to grow, the people and the town officials felt that this type of library was hardly adequate. It was about this time that the famous multi-millionaire Andrew Carnegie retired from the steel business and decided to spend the rest of his life and most of his fortune in establishing philanthropies. Probably the most remembered of his works was the building of some 2,800 library buildings across the country. The Carnegie Institute would build and equip a library where the local authorities provided a site, maintenance and ongoing operation costs.

Several prominent men sponsored the library project. Among them were W,B, Kirby, Mayor, C.H. Austin, J.B. Paulson, Dr. H.M. Ogilbee, E.E. Nichols, Charles Meadow, and H.H. Grafton, who gave generously from his personal library. Dr. Ogilbee was directly responsible for obtaining a gift of $6,000.00 from the Carnegie Foundation. There were lively debates concerning the site for some time, but finally they settled on the large acre-sized lot at the corner of Pawnee and Manitou Avenue, which the town bought for $8,000.00.

The buildings on the site were cleared and construction began. To decide the location of the building the Board of Trustees went out one moonlit night, so the story goes, and took stakes to mark the front of the building. One of the men wanted the building placed well forward on the lot, facing Manitou Avenue, but the other six wanted it on the back half of the grounds, so that is where ground was broken in 1910. There were money problems, but the library was finally opened on February 22, 1911. Constructed of light brown brick with a red-tiled roof, it complemented the many brick and stone buildings about town at that time. The sponsoring Episcopal Church had been erected five years earlier of beautiful Manitou Green stone.

  From the old St. Andrews library came about two thousand books. The tables, chairs and desk were provided by the P.E.O. Money used for their purchase was raised by a "Tag Day". Mr. C.H. Austin donated the money to purchase the cork flooring, and also donated a five foot clock, which is still running. It is an electric clock that uses dry cell batteries.

  The basement of the library was not finished at that time, but was originally intended to provide living quarters for the librarian. Another source mentions it as living quarters for the caretaker. However, a few years after the building was built, the lower floor was appropriated for the office of the town clerk. For over thirty years the town offices were maintained here, and a vault was built to hold the town records on the southwest corner of the basement. Some of them are still there; the door to the vault is still visible in the Children’s Department. After the town offices moved into more spacious quarters, the basement was used as a kindergarten room and then as a sixth-grade classroom.

Mrs. Viola Sunderlin was the first librarian. Captain W.H. Rogers, owner of the Sunnyside Hotel, was issued the first library card. For a long time there was a charge of 10 cents for a card. Mrs. Harry Dancy was the second librarian, then Mrs. E.L. Reese. On November 18, 1913, Miss Clothilde Reichmuth became the librarian and continued as such for forty-one years. She started her job at a salary of $30.00 per month, which grew to $150.00 per month at the time of her retirement.

  During those years the book collection grew from 2,000 to 10,178 through purchases and gifts. For some time summer visitors were the greatest users of the library. Although the Library still receives a good amount of traffic from summer visitors, the vast majority of usage now comes from the citizens of the Town itself.

  After Mrs. Marguerite Aldrich became the librarian in 1954, she urged the use of the downstairs room as a children’s library. With a great deal of effort on the part of a good many people, the children’s library came into being in February 1957. Changing the children’s department from one corner upstairs to a large room downstairs, with appropriate furniture, was perhaps the greatest improvement since the library had opened.

  Soon after the opening of the children’s room, Mrs. Aldrich and Mrs. Ray Steakley, the junior librarian, started a doll collection that has grown throughout the years with donations. Mrs. Earl Pitcock, former President of the Library Board, greatly encouraged this collection. Through her efforts a beautiful cabinet was donated by Mr. Earl Pitcock, to hold the increasing collection. There are now dolls from around the world, including a doll from Brussels, Belgium, given by Mr. and Mrs. Sam Lenters.

  After Mrs. Aldrich retired, Mrs. Helen B. Hill became the librarian. During this time the grounds were upgraded, and shrubs and stone work were furnished in memory of a Board member, Katherine Haas. Many local organizations, such as the Manitou Springs Women’s Club, as well as individuals, were generous with gifts given as memorials.

  In 1974, Mrs. Hazel Erb became librarian upon the retirement of Mrs. Hill. Under the leadership of Gary Miller, the then superintendent of schools, several improvements of the building were made. New carpet and new steel shelving were installed in the children’s section. Many other improvements, such as a 3M copier and a listening center, were added. Ms. Ruby Liby became librarian in 1979; she was followed by Ms. Lila Thorson in 1983 and Ms. Donna Bentsen in 1985. On December 30, 1986, Ms. Gladys added to the existing doll collection a "Children’s Cultural Museum of Artifacts" collection.

  Ms. Carol Melhaff served as the Library Director from 1989 through June of 2000. Under her leadership plans were laid to automate the library’s circulation system. This included taking a current inventory of the library’s holdings, and converting catalog cards into MaRC (Machine Readable Cataloging) record format. Mr. Howard Fasold, President of the Library Board, set up an internal library network which included two Internet accessible terminals for public use, along with networked terminals for viewing the library’s collection. According to Mr. Fasold, he learned how to set the network up simply by checking a book out from the library! On October 12, 2000, Linda Tuttle-Shaw became Director, and the new automated system became operational on November 21, 2000. Currently the library is directed by Margaret Morris.

  From its modest beginnings with three to four hundred donated books, the Manitou Springs Public Library collection has grown to approximately 17,000 books, books on tape, videos, CD’s and DVD’s. We also offer Internet access, request Interlibrary Loan materials through a worldwide network of libraries, answer Reference questions on a universe of subjects, and provide programming for both children and adults. Good Reverend Bonell would, we hope, be proud!