Just Life| Our Old Library Buildings

• City of Stockton was founded by Charles Weber in 1849. 

• The city of Stockton officially became an incorporated city on July 23, 1850.

• Stockton received its own library building, on February 1, 1889 thanks to the generosity of Frank Stewart who had donated $5,000 in his will for building a public library in Stockton.

• Frank Stewart was a business man originally from Tennessee, later on he ventured into gold mining and eventually became a money lender. He was 59 when he died in an accident. 

  

Frank Stewart

• The lot where the library was erected was originally donated to the city by Charles Weber. 

  

  Charles Weber

• The Stewart Memorial library was a two story brick building at the corner of Hunter and Market street.

• The first floor of the building housed the book stacks, ladies reading room, librarian's office, and the trustee's meeting room.  The second floor was used for storage.

• The style of the building was between Medieval and Classic Greek with granite pillars.  
• The library had a collection size of 11,000.

• The total cost of building the library was $10,389.

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Hazelton Public Library

• The picture above shows the interior of the Hazelton Public Library which opened its doors on April 14, 1895.

• William Hazelton donated $71,000 in his will toward building a library in Stockton.

• When William Hazelton donated this money to Stockton, he hadn't been living in Stockton for 28 years.

• The entire exterior of the Hazelton Library was constructed of white marble.

•  The Hazelton Library had separate reading rooms for women and men. In the center of the library was the book stacks with first and second floor galleries upstairs. There was also an art room for book clubs and school visits.

Hazelton Public Library

• The library had a collection size of 25,000. 

• They had weekly story time starting in the year 1908.

 

Inside Hazelton Public Library

Inside Hazelton Public Library

• In 1910, San Joaquin County entered into a contract with the city of Stockton to provide library services to its residents. 

I wonder who is going to be the next Frank Stewart or William Hazelton for Stockton?

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha