(From the NY City Landmarks Preservation Commission Study that Designated the Tottenville Branch a NY City Landmark, 1995) [Section 2 of 8] 

The Tottenville Free Library

Early American libraries were associated with churches, towns (or school districts), colleges, or cooperative groups; during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the progressive free public library movement overshadowed those initiatives. On Staten Island, particularly following the Civil War, libraries slowly began to form with the development of literary and historical societies, two of which were based in Tottenville. In 1897 a group of women founded the Philemon club (later known as the Philemon Literary and Historical Society), to pursue their interest in literature, art, science, civics, philanthropy, and music; their male counterparts established the Philo Debating Society. Together they called a public meeting on February 6, 1899, at which time the Tottenville Library Association was organized. In the subsequent weeks, the Board of Trustees was established, a constitution adopted, and officers elected: Frank Joline (president), Mrs. Cynthia M. Little (vice president), Mrs. Mary Mason(secretary), Gilbert S. Barnes (treasurer), and Rev. J.C. Hendrickson; committees were appointed, by-laws adopted, and an application for a charter was made to the regents of the University of the State of New York. Mr. Joline, a United States customs official, solicited residents of the town for books, maps, charts, and related materials as well as for funds.

On April 29, 1899, the Tottenville Free Library opened to the public. It was the first free public library chartered for Richmond County by New York State. Its 230 volumes, mostly unbound, were housed in two rooms on the ground floor of a double house at 137 (now 204-206) Johnson Avenue, a frame structure featuring a full-width wood porch. Association vice president Cynthia M. Little and secretary Mary Mason were the first librarians. The state charter was received in June. A printed announcement from 1901 offers a detailed view of the fledging institution: following the appointment of Mrs. Leonara C. McCormack as librarian, the building was open Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 and

Reference books at the Library incude[d] a Standard Dictionary, a set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 20 volumes of “The World’s Best Literature,” Rand & McNally’s Atlas–and many other valuable works.

The Association especially urged library patrons to read “standard works” and permitted the use of the rooms as a common meeting-place, where, under proper restrictions, games of checkers and chess could be played, enabling Mr. Joline to posit, “Thus the sphere of a small library, can with good to a community, be extended beyond its ordinary limits.” By 1901, the Tottenville libarary had taken over the administration of a state traveling library located at the Prince’s Bay office of the S.S. White Dental Company plant.

In November 1900, supporters of the library began to discuss the purchase of land for a building site, so it is not surprising that the Association was poised to take advantage of intustrialist Andrew Carnegie’s offer to finance new buildings to be used as free, public circulation libraries.

PDF of report available at: www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org