San Francisco’s first free public library was opened in 1852 in a room in What Cheer House, a men’s temperance hotel at the corner of Sacramento and Leidesdorff owned by R. B. Woodward[1]. Private, fee-based libraries also were established at organizations like the Mercantile Association and the Mechanic’s Institute.
In 1877 a citizens meeting was called in San Francisco by State Senator George Rogers and cable car inventor Andrew Hallidie[2] to advocate for the creation of a free public library. The following year The Rogers Act was signed into law by Governor William Irwin, allowing incorporated cities to impose a property tax that would help pay for the funding of a public libraries.
The San Francisco Free Library opened on June 7, 1879 on the second floor of Pacific Hall at Bush and Kearny. The majority of the collection had either been donated, or was bought with borrowed funds. Nine years later the library moved to a wing of City Hall[3] in the Civic Center and three branch libraries opened in the Mission[4], North Beach[5] and Potrero Hill districts.
Eighty percent of the library collections were destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fires[6]. Most of the materials that survived had been checked out and were in private residences at the time of the disaster. The last of these materials was finally returned to the library 75 years later. A new Main Library was built as a standalone structure in the Civic Center in 1917. This building was severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake[7]. A new 6-story, mostly glass structure, designed by IM Pei (who designed the glass pyramid for The Louvre in Paris), was built next door and opened on April 18, 1996. The sixth floor houses the Daniel E Koshland San Francisco History Center and offers an extensive collection of historical archives as well as being the repository for the City and County of San Francisco. After retrofitting and renovations, the old library building became home to the Asian Art Museum[8].
A 1994 ballot measure established a dedicated Library Preservation Fund, ensuring that San Francisco’s library system would remain well funded.
In 2009 the San Francisco libraries were inundated with homeless who spent each day setting up camp in the stacks and using the bathrooms to bathe. With the help of the City’s Public Health Department, the Library created a homeless and poverty outreach team that assists in finding temporary and permanent housing. They also employ once-homeless patrons to reach out to those in need.
On September 16, 2019 the San Francisco Public Library Commission voted to forgive outstanding library fines and announced that no future fines would be issued. Today, there are 27 branch libraries scattered across the City. Many of these branches were built in the early 2000s. Due to COVID-19, all San Francisco libraries closed in March 2020 until reopening in May 2021[9].
[1] RB Woodward: story coming January 19th
[2] Andrew Hallidie: story coming September 6th
[3] City Hall: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4664
[4] Mission District: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3831 [5] North Beach: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5026[6] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849
[7] Loma Prieta Earthquake: story coming October 17th
[8] Asian Art Museum: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3086
[9] Visit them at www.sfpl.org
