The South Orange Public Library will unveil its new Library Timeline on Sunday, May 15, at 1 p.m. in a ceremony open to all. The timeline, a graphic presentation of 150-plus years of service in South Orange, places the library in context of what was happening in the community, the state, the nation and the world; what follows here is an in-depth look at the library’s early years.
The timeline will remain viewable through the library’s upcoming 150th Birthday Bash on September 17, 2016.
SOPL’s Early Years: 1864-1886
Before South Orange Village was even incorporated, its residents were jonesing for a library.
As the U.S. Civil War dragged on and finally came to its bloody end with the assassination of President Lincoln, villagers planted the seeds of what would become one of the longest continuously serving libraries in the state of New Jersey, which has now changed with the times for one-and- a-half centuries.
Like many American libraries, the South Orange Library’s earliest incarnation was as a private subscription lending service. It was proposed in November 1864 by village resident and New York tea merchant William J. Beebe (who would go on to serve in village government on the board of trustees in 1869) and supported by member dues and some monetary gifts, which were put into an endowment.
This early library was housed at the Republican Club (of which Beebe was president) on the ground floor of the Smith & Lum Building on Railroad Avenue, what is now Sloan Street. The library board, headed by Beebe, rented the space for $50 and appointed a director, Stephen Ballard, at an annual salary of $150 a year (which was meant to also cover the wages of an assistant).
By the end of its first year, the library had 567 volumes. In 1867, it moved to an upstairs floor of the building, and by 1869 there were 1,000 volumes in the collection. In 1875, there were 1,646 books. Ten books a day was the circulation figure, or 3,000 for the year.
South Orange Library over Beck’s Hardware, 1880s
In 1883-4, Sloan Street was widened to accommodate the new brick railroad station, and the Smith & Lum Building was moved to 75 South Orange Avenue, on the northwest corner of Scotland Road. The library moved with it and settled into a second-floor space above Beck’s Hardware Store (see photo).
In 1884, a new association to create a free circulating library for the citizens of South Orange was formed, along with a new board of trustees, and the collection of the earlier organization was handed over. The South Orange Library Association was officially incorporated on October 25,
1886, and this is the organization that we now know as the South Orange Public Library—its 150th birthday is on October 25, 2016.
Though dues were no longer charged, the library was still supported by private donations and late fines at this point. In 1886, circulation figures were 7,078 books for the year.
In South Orange and environs from 1864-1886:
- March 1869: The Village of South Orange is officially incorporated.
- 1869: L.L. Coudert becomes the first village president. The first board of trustees includes the library’s William Beebe and other South Orange notables such as Abijah Tillou, George Turrell, and William Redmond.
- October 1871: Boss Tweed is arrested in New York City on corruption charges.
- May 1883: The Brooklyn Bridge opens.
- October 1886: The Statue of Library is dedicated in New York Harbor.
In the United States from 1864-1886:
- April 1865: President Lincoln is assassinated; the Civil War ends.
- 1867: The U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia.
- July 1870: Georgia becomes the last Confederate state to return to the Union.
- October 1871: The Great Chicago Fire destroys much of that city.
- March 1872: Yellowstone National Park is established as the first U.S. national park.
- March 1876: Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call.
- May 1883: Clara Barton incorporates the American Red Cross.
- 1884: Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Around the world from 1864-1886″
- July 1870: The Franco-Prussian War begins.
- 1871: British Columbia becomes part of Canada.
- 1873: Jules Verne publishes Around the World in Eighty Days.
- April 1874: Impressionist artists including Monet, Renoir and Degas join together for the first group exhibition of their work.
- March 1881: Czar Nicholas II of Russia is assassinated.
- June 1887: Britain celebrates the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, marking the 50 th year of her reign.
