{"id":8666,"date":"2018-04-13T11:17:45","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T16:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=8666"},"modified":"2018-04-13T13:23:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T18:23:58","slug":"40-years-ago-the-annie-wittenmyer-branch-of-the-davenport-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2018\/04\/13\/40-years-ago-the-annie-wittenmyer-branch-of-the-davenport-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Years Ago: The Annie Wittenmyer Branch of the Davenport Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The former administration building of the Annie Wittenmyer Home, at 2800 Eastern Avenue, opened as a branch of the Davenport Public Library on Monday, April 3rd, 1978. That’s forty years ago this month!<\/p>\n

The City of Davenport’s improvements to the building included a new roof, a lowered ceiling, fluorescent lighting, new electrical wiring and outlets, paneled walls, carpeting, and two restrooms. A large parking lot completed the site’s preparation.<\/p>\n

The 4,200 square-foot facility offered 15,000 books for both adults and children, as well as audio cassettes, LP’s, and puzzles.<\/p>\n

These images are from the Davenport Public Library’s own archives, kept by the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center at our Main Street location:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"

Families enjoyed the new facilities at an open house on Sunday, April 2nd, 1978 from 2 to 4 pm.<\/p><\/div>\n

The branch was open 43 hours per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 am to 6:00pm, Tuesday and Friday from 1:00pm to 8:00pm, and Saturday from 10:00am to 3:00pm. <\/p>\n

When the library’s bookmobile service began in 1958, it replaced the “deposit collections” kept in 6 of the Davenport’s public schools. Therefore, when the Wittenmyer facility opened, it was the first new branch to be established in over twenty years.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the Annie Wittenmyer branch hosted bedtime story hours, films, young writers’ contests, a homework center, and fun summer activities outside on its beautiful grounds. Here are a few more photos from the DPL archives:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"

Boys and girls met some unusual creatures…thanks to Chuck Wester, AEA naturalist and Nancy Pope from the Niabi Zoological Society, July 23rd, 1985.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Participants of the 1984 Summer Reading Club on the Annie Wittenmyer grounds.<\/p><\/div>\n

Budget cuts in 1987 drastically cut hours at the Wittenmyer branch, but in September 1988, it was revamped as the “Family Reading Center” with an expanded collection in a “comfortable, homelike atmosphere.” We even had our own library cat, Dewey!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Branch Library staff: Ann Hetzler, Ted Frahm, Lynn Seline, Mike Weir, Cindy Jones, and Dewey the Library Cat on his birthday, ca. 1988.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Annie Wittenmyer Branch closed its doors on November 23rd, 2005. Staff and patrons said goodbye at an open house where they enjoyed light refreshments, signed a scrapbook, and shared memories of their neighborhood branch. To the new 24,000 square-foot Fairmount Street Branch (opened in January 2006) went the 45,000 books, CDs and DVDs.<\/p>\n

(posted by Cristina)<\/em><\/p>\n

——————————<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

“A Library Branches Out,” Quad-City Times<\/em>, March 28, 1978.
\n“Library opens center,” Quad-City Times, <\/em>September 26, 1988, 4.
\n“Saying good-bye to Wittenmyer branch,” Quad-City Times, <\/em>November 15, 2005. 
\nMain Entries <\/em>5, no. 5 (September\/October 1988)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former administration building of the Annie Wittenmyer Home, at 2800 Eastern Avenue, opened as a branch of the Davenport Public Library on Monday, April 3rd, 1978. That’s forty years ago this month! The City of Davenport’s improvements to the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[26,603,14],"class_list":["post-8666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library","category-local-history","tag-annie-wittenmyer-home","tag-davenport-community-schools","tag-davenport-public-library"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-2fM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8666"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8679,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666\/revisions\/8679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}