Chicago Public Library Archives. Early CPL

The Chicago Public Library (CPL) was founded in 1872 and opened to the public on January 1, 1873. The Library came into being as a result of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Before the fire there were some libraries operating within the city, although none were run by the City nor were they free. Additionally, many of the books in these libraries, most notably those belonging to the Chicago Library, run by the Young Men’s Association, burned in the blaze.

Responding to the disaster of the Great Chicago Fire, Thomas Hughes, British Member of Parliament and author of Tom Brown’s School Days, and A.H. Burgess led a drive in Great Britain to “present a Free Library to Chicago, to remain there as a mark of sympathy now, and a keepsake and a token of true brotherly kindness forever.” The result of this endeavor was around 7,000 volumes being donated to the new library from universities, publishers, learned societies, and individuals including Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, John Stuart Mill, John Ruskin and Matthew Arnold.

The impending book donation caused a problem for Chicago’s municipal leaders. There was no provision in either city or state law which allowed cities to raise funds to maintain free public libraries. A petition was quickly organized by leading Chicagoans that asked Mayor Medill to call a public meeting to establish a free public library for Chicago. The result was the Illinois Library Act of 1872 which was soon followed by a city ordinance proclaiming the establishment of the Chicago Public Library.

Donations flowed in, not just from Great Britain, but from most European countries, including a significant donation of books in German for German speaking residents of the city. Books and money came in from all over the United States and from individuals in Chicago itself. The Board of Directors was established, and the first president named was Thomas Hoyne, the first Secretary was William Bailey (W.B.) Wickersham. On January 1, 1873, the Library opened in one of the few structures which had survived the fire, an iron water tank that was no longer in use located on the corner of Adams and LaSalle Streets. By October 1873, William Frederick Poole, one of the foremost librarians in the country, was appointed Librarian, and by May 1874, the Library began to circulate most of its collection.

During its first 24 years, the Library moved from location to location. In 1897, the newly constructed Central Library on Michigan Avenue, between Randolph and Washington Streets opened. The Library remained at this location for almost 100 years until 1991 when a second new Central Library was built in the south Loop, the Harold Washington Library Center. The original Central Library became known as the Chicago Cultural Center.