Danforth Memorial Library

The Paterson Free Public Library was established in 1885. Although Paterson had many libraries and reading rooms across the city as early as 1828, most were accessible only to those who paid subscription fees.Janes, Irene. Early History of Libraries in Paterson. United States, n.p, 1949. It wasn’t until 1884, when New Jersey Assemblyman William Prall introduced the New Jersey General Library Act to the State Legislature and called for the establishment of free public libraries across the state.{{Cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G6IWQ6tcUHcC |title=History of Paterson and Its Environs (the Silk City): Historical- Genealogical - Biographical |last2=Shriner |first2=Charles Anthony |date=1920 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |language=en}} On April 13, 1885, residents of Paterson voted in favor of the Act.“Danforth Memorial Library Ceremoniously Opened Today,” Paterson Daily Press: April 14, 1885. Page 2, column 2.

It is the oldest public library in New Jersey, and citizens of Paterson created it. Danforth Memorial Library is the current location of the main library branch, and is located at 250 Broadway after the Great Fire of 1902 destroyed the first two libraries. Some 40,000 books in the original Danforth Library were destroyed in the fire, the only books that survived were some on loan by patrons in their homes.The Paterson Free Public Library. Paterson Free Public Library Centennial Celebration, 1985. Pamphlet. The devastating fire left some 500 families homeless and destroyed several city buildings including City Hall, police station, high-school, two banks, five churches, a theatre, among others.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6rhCAQAAMAAJ |title=Architects' and Builders' Magazine |date=1906 |publisher=W.T. Comstock |language=en}} In 1888,Dr. Helen A. Kehoe, “Danforth Memorial Library,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1984). https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0f592bbf-0354-4642-a5c1-aaf2de98a882 Mary Elizabeth Danforth Ryle funded the historical building in memory of her father, Charles Danforth, a leading industrialist in Paterson and the inventor of the frame used in Cotton-spinning machinery. Mrs. Ryle gifted the funds under two conditions: that the building be used solely for the city’s Free Public Library and to bear the name “Danforth.”Paterson, N. J. Free Public Library. Laying of the Corner Stone of the Danforth Library Building, Paterson, N.J. n.p, 1903. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ryle passed away in 1904, before being able to see the library construction completed in memory of her father.The Free Public Library of the City of Paterson, Fiftieth Annual Report of the Free Public Library of the City of Paterson, N.J., 1935.

When the cornerstone of the library was laid in October of 1903, Patersonian and Vice Chancellor Eugene Stevens, of the New Jersey Chancery Court said at the ceremony, “…This building will be the home of the Free Public Library of Paterson. It will be an architectural ornament to our city. It has been skillfully designed to meet all the requirements of the most efficient modern library work.” During the laying of the cornerstone ceremony, several items were deposited in the corner stone, including; a photograph of Mrs. Mary E. Ryle, an engraved portrait of the late Charles Danforth, a scrap-book with outlines of the history of both the old and new Danforth Libraries, the Great Fire of 1902 and the Great Floods of 1902 and 1903, silver coins on 1902-1903, and others.

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A formal dedication ceremony was held on April 29, 1905 where native-Patersonian and former Governor of New Jersey / former member of President William McKinley’s cabinet, John W. Griggs remarked, “Out of the ashes of the old has risen the new nobler structure, an ornament as well as a utility to our city, a building to rejoice over, to behold with admiration and to regard with civic pride.”

The Danforth Memorial Library officially opened to the public on May 1, 1905 to a crowd of thousands who jumped on the first opportunity to visit the building. At the time, the total cost of the building construction along with its furnishings was $220,000 (equal to about $7.7 million dollars in 2024).“With Prayer and Oratory: Danforth Memorial Library Building Was Formally Opened to Citizens,” Paterson Morning Call, May 1, 1905, Page 2, Col 5+.

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The Library (and its branches) were closed from October 7 – 25, 1918 by order of the Board of Health because of the Spanish Flu epidemic.

In 1925, the wife of Vice-President Garrett A. Hobart, gifted a valuable collection of paintings as a memorial to her late-husband to be hung as a permanent exhibit within the library. Hobart donated 26 works of art, including the 1872 painting The Bath by American artist, and cofounder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Eastman Johnson.{{Cite book |last=Read |first=Philip M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQ13LACcaLkC |title=Paterson |date=2003 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-1230-3 |language=en}}

Remodeling was done to the library in 1967, where a staircase was removed from the stack area, a small additional was made to the rear of the building, two of the three skylights were removed, and overhead lighting and air-conditioning were installed along with dropped ceilings on the two floors.

By 1995, the library system was reduced from seven locations to three, prior to this, there was a branch in each of the city’s wards.{{Cite web |title=Library History |url=https://patersonpl.org/library-history/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=patersonpl.org}} By 1995, there were three (3) additional library branches in the Paterson Public Library system. In 2011, Hurricane Irene destroyed the First Ward (also known as Northside) Branch. Since then, a branch service has been running out of the Christopher Hope Center on Temple Street in its location. In November, 2022, the city announced it was selling the North Main Street library location to a Paterson-based nonprofit group that planned to convert the building into a resource center that would provide mental health counseling, job training and reentry services.{{Cite web |last=Malinconico |first=Joe |title=Here's how Paterson wants to convert a vacant library into a 'beacon of hope' |url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2022/11/29/paterson-nj-library-branch-could-become-community-center/69682061007/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=North Jersey Media Group |language=en-US}}

These branches are the Totowa Branch, Southside Branch, and Northside Branch. Danforth Memorial Library opened the Community Learning Center in 1986, and it has increased its African American and Spanish language collection. In 2002, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated 35 computers.{{Cite web |title=Paterson Public Library − Paterson Public Library |url=https://patersonpl.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320173322/https://patersonpl.org/ |archive-date=March 20, 2022 |access-date=March 19, 2022 |website=Paterson Public Library}} The library’s Southside location now offers an Arabic/Islamic collection thanks to a New Jersey State Library special collections grant. The Danforth Memorial Library is a member of the PALS Plus consortium.{{Cite web |title=Member Libraries {{!}} PALS Plus NJ |url=https://www.palsplus.org/members.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409015728/https://www.palsplus.org/members.html |archive-date=April 9, 2022 |access-date=March 20, 2022 |website=PALS Plus}}

The Danforth Memorial Library architecture is described as Classical Revival. It is a two-story building with four monumental columns made with gray limestone material on a granite foundation. It was designed by Henry Bacon, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The 1956 Biographical Dictionary of American Architects featured Bacon’s architecture and said, “Among the notable examples of his work should be named the Danforth Memorial Library."Withey, Henry F, and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (deceased). Los Angeles: New Age Pub. Co., 19561956. Page 339. In a biographical blub on Bacon, the 1978 Encyclopedia of Americana stated, “A strict adherent to the classic Greek style of architecture, Bacon designed several important buildings, among them the public library in Paterson, N.J.”“Henry Bacon,” in Encyclopedia of Americana, 1978 ed. V. 3, p. 27.

There are 33 names of famous classical works carved on the structure’s frieze that runs around the entire building. Inside, visitors will find a large bronze tablet which commemorates the building’s donor, Mrs. Mary E. Ryle (Charles Danforth’s daughter), depicting her as an angel-like figure in bas-relief completed by sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman (who also worked with Bacon on the sculpturing of the Lincoln Memorial). The bronze tablet was added to the library entrance in November of 1907 after a citizen movement begun pushing for a suitable memorial to be erected in Mrs. Ryle’s honor. Shortly after, Mrs. William Prall gifted a bronze medallion with the head of Rev. William Prall, D.D., who was the library’s first President and one of its founders. Today, that medallion hangs inside the Reference Department.

When the library opened in 1905, it featured four stories of steel book stacks which could shelve sixty thousand volumes, a children’s library with hundreds of books, an art library, newspaper reading room, coal cellar, assembly and exhibition room, and reference library, among others.“Library Opens Today,” Paterson Morning Call; April 29, 1905. The library also contained four stories of steel book stack shelving in an area of the library that is completely fireproof and housed more than 25,000 volumes.{{Cite news |date=1905-04-30 |title=PATERSON LIBRARY OPEN.; Gift of Mrs. Ryle to City -- Carnegie Aid Declined. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1905/04/30/archives/paterson-library-open-gift-of-mrs-ryle-to-city-carnegie-aid.html |access-date=2024-03-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

The property owner is the Board of Library Trustees of the City of Paterson. In 2020, the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, granted $734,812 to rehabilitate the historic landmark; this fund came from the Library Construction Bond Act. According to the library administration, the rehabilitation project will cost $1,469,624; the current mayor, André Sayegh, and his administration need to cover the matching amount. The rehabilitation project consists of renovating the Children's Department and the Community Literacy Center, modifying the elevator to American with Disabilities standards, replacing the library's roof, and repairing the retaining wall.{{Cite news |last=Rahman |first=Jayed |date=November 24, 2020 |title=Paterson gets almost $735,000 to repair Danforth Memorial Library |work=Paterson Times |url=https://patersontimes.com/2020/11/24/paterson-gets-almost-735000-to-repair-danforth-memorial-library/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530135452/https://patersontimes.com/2020/11/24/paterson-gets-almost-735000-to-repair-danforth-memorial-library/ |archive-date=May 30, 2023}}

As of March 2024, the Paterson Free Public Library director is Corey Fleming.

As of March 2024:

• Debra Bracy, Mayor’s Alternate
• Margie Di Alva-Leon
• Shanikwa Lemon, Superintendent’s Alternate 
• Errol Kerr, Vice President
• Tracy Pearson
• Irene Sterling, Secretary/Treasurer
• Derya Taskin, President
• Mahbubah Uddin
• Dennis Vroegindewey

• Mary Danforth Ryle
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Passaic County, New Jersey

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Category:Library buildings completed in 1905

Category:Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey

Category:Neoclassical architecture in New Jersey

Category:Buildings and structures in Paterson, New Jersey

Category:Public libraries in New Jersey

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Passaic County, New Jersey

Category:New Jersey Register of Historic Places

Category:1905 establishments in New Jersey