Founded by two women in the 1890s, the Yakima Library Association applied for a national Carnegie Library Grant in 1900. Several other cities received library grants in Washington State including Bellingham, Everett, Olympia, Spokane, and Walla Walla. Industrialist and benefactor, Andrew Carnegie, donated over $40 million from 1886 to 1919 to build public libraries and aid communities in the United States. His Carnegie Libraries introduced innovative services and helped develop public libraries as agents of public education and civic improvement. Two Carnegie Libraries were built here in Yakima County—one in Yakima and one in Sunnyside.
In 1889, the North Yakima chapter of the Young Women’s Christian Temperance Union (YWCTU) opened a reading room attached to a coffee room on First Street as an alternative to saloons. The YWCTU was a social club devoted to promoting temperance, morality, and social purity. The YWCTU worked tirelessly to educate individuals about the harmful effects of alcohol and other vices. Within two years lack of funding forced the closure of the reading room. In 1891, 128 YWCTU books were used to create a membership-based circulating library proposed by Miss Anna Mattoon and Miss Hattie Sawyer. They formed the North Yakima Library Association to raise money to support and grow the new library.
By 1903, North Yakima received the grant, and the library property was transferred to the city. The following year, the North Yakima Public Library was created, and the City Commission introduced an ordinance for a free public library. In 1904 property was bought at the intersection of N. 3rd and A Street, and construction began.
The North Yakima Public Library was completed in 1906 and opened on April 26, 1907. Its exterior displayed a neo-classical style that promoted both function and utility. Like other Carnegie Libraries, it had a flight of stairs and a prominent light at the front entry to symbolize elevation and enlightenment through learning. The building was constructed of Port Angeles stone and pressed brick. Designed to hold 8,000 volumes, it was one story tall with a basement, a reading room, a reference room, and a children’s room. The library’s main floor was 2,133 sq. ft. Use of the library was in high demand and they received a $5,000 grant in 1912 to expand space, but construction was interrupted by World War I and an influenza outbreak. Finally, in 1919, the construction was finished, and 1,277 sq. ft. was added.
In 1910, the City of Sunnyside also received a Carnegie Library Grant for $5,000. Construction began, and the Sunnyside Public Library opened in 1911 at 621 Grant Ave. The design of the Sunnyside Public Library incorporated a broad overhanging roof, high-vaulted ceilings, and a ventilated cupola, which allows for better temperature control. The library became affiliated with the Yakima Valley Regional Library system in 1956. A new facility was built on the same site in 1965, which was extensively remodeled in 2015, and still houses today’s Sunnyside Community Library.
In 1951, the Yakima Public Library planned a new building, as the Carnegie Library became too small to serve its patrons adequately. That same year, the Yakima Public Library and the Yakima County Library systems merged to combine their resources to better serve their community. In 1952, the Yakima Public Library checked out 25,989 (11.4%) more items while Yakima County Rural Library circulated 21,185 (7.44%) more items than the previous year.
After reorganizing, the new Yakima Valley Regional Library was formed. The Yakima County Library became administrative offices while the Yakima Public Library (The Carnegie Library) remained a library. In 1957, voters passed a bond to raise the necessary funds to build a larger library. The original Yakima Library Carnegie building was demolished in 1957 to make way for the current Yakima Central Library building, which was completed in 1959. In 2012, the Central Library underwent extensive remodeling to accommodate increased space and services.
Library services have been an intrinsic part of Yakima Valley from the start. The Carnegie Library Grant gave the people of Yakima and Sunnyside access to quality resources and facilities. To meet the growing needs of the community, Yakima Regional Libraries’ building has grown and transformed. Yakima Valley Libraries continues this 134-year tradition of providing access to a vast array of ideas and information to its valuable patrons to this day.
-Written by Carlos Pelley, Yakima Valley Libraries’ Archive Librarian
We invite you to visit our online resource Yakima Memory (click here) to view more images of our historic libraries and interesting, archived information on Yakima Valley. Please also join us in the Northwest Reading Room, located at Yakima Central Library, to peruse scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and more ephemera from the last 134 years of library service to the community (click here for more information).