Wheaton Public Library

225 N. Cross Street
Wheaton IL 60187

Phone: 630-668-1374

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Description:
History of the Library

Adams Memorial Library - 1891
The first library building was dedicated by Wheaton resident John Quincy Adams to the memory of his wife in 1891. Mr. Adams, a descendant of the Adams line which produced two presidents, was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in 1824 and came to Chicago in 1851. He was a successful grain merchant and dealt extensively in real estate. The library was designed by prominent Chicago architect, Charles Sumner Frost, and had beautiful architectural details, carved oak woodwork and stairs and art glass. It was a magnificent free library for the citizens of Wheaton who numbered no more than 3,000 at the time. The first floor of the building had library reading rooms, while the second floor served as a meeting hall and had a stage for local drama and a piano for concerts. Mr. Adams also settled an endowment fund on the library. His daughter, Katharine Adams Wells, became Wheaton's first librarian and introduced the Dewey Decimal System.

Wheaton Public Library Begins - 1923
The library continued to operate for 32 years on money received from the Adams Memorial Trust. However, as Wheaton grew, the need for library materials and services increased, and, along with that, the need for additional funding. In 1923, the City of Wheaton voted to levy a tax to operate the library, and the Mayor appointed a Board of Library Directors.

A New Beginning - 1965
By 1959, Wheaton had become a cosmopolitan suburban community of 24,312. The Library Board recognized the need for a larger, more modern building. Construction began in 1964 on another site, just a block east of the Adams Memorial Library. The library moved into its new facility in the fall of 1965. The Adams Memorial Library building became the home of the DuPage County Historical Museum.

Library Addition Completed - 1979
Although a renovation program in 1973 solved some space problems by moving the Children's Department to the recently finished lower level, suburban growth, which increased circulation to 438,000, and a book collection of 147,000 volumes necessitated additional space. By 1976, plans for expansion to the south were on the drawing board. Groundbreaking for a 40,000 sq. ft. addition took place in March of 1977, not to be completed until 1979. The original building was also remodelled at that time. After the addition was finished, land acquisition and parking lot construction followed. Circulation rose immediately to 566,000. The 1980's saw ever-increasing library use, and a multiplicity of formats offered to cardholders.

The 90's
In 1993, the Children's Department was enlarged by expanding into several storage areas. Also in 1993, the library installed its local library system (Innovative Interfaces) and in 1994, significantly increased its offerings in CD-ROM format. Circulation rose to 825,000 in 1995.