This weekend marks the 142nd anniversary of Enoch Pratt Free Library’s conceptualization. While the official grand opening didn’t come about until nearly four years later, no one can deny that the library’s eventual establishment in the community has since gone down in history as one of the best ideas ever to emerge in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s why for this Flashback Friday Feature, I’m recounting the foundational history and development of Enoch Pratt Free Library, from its initial concept to its massive growth and expansion through the years.
The idea for the library was the brainchild of Enoch Pratt, an American businessman originally from Massachusetts. Pratt moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1831 to launch a wholesale iron hardware business. Other notable credits to his name include banking and serving as steamship company executive. But it was his many works as a philanthropist that he is arguably best remembered for.
On January 21, 1882, in a letter to (then) Mayor William Pinkney Whyte and the Baltimore City Council, Enoch Pratt made the offer of a financial endowment for more than a million dollars to establish a free public library system in the City of Baltimore. His initial desire was to have a central library built along with four branches in surrounding neighborhoods. The goal was to have this new library system be open to all Baltimore residents, as well as those in the surrounding regions of Baltimore County and beyond. In his own words, he declared that his library “shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color, who, when properly accredited, can take out the books if they will handle them carefully and return them.”
After much discussion and back-and-forth debating, the mayor and council agreed to accept Pratt’s gift of endowment. His donation included $250,000 for both the land and building of the Central Library Building. An additional $50,000 went towards the land and building of four neighborhood branch libraries. Then, he contributed $833,333 in cash for an estimated annual return of $50,000, which Pratt anticipated would meet the needs and expenses for overseeing management of the library system.
Groundbreaking on the Central Library Building got underway shortly after the deal was sealed in 1882. But it did not open to the public until January 5, 1886. That same year saw the other four branches open as well. Pratt then provided the funding for two more branches—one opening in 1888 and the other in 1896. Baltimore industrialist Robert Poole built a seventh branch in Hampden three years later in 1899. Then, in 1905, the one and only Andrew Carnegie provided an additional sum of $500,000 to go towards the construction of even more extensions of the Enoch Pratt Free Library System.
As the 1920s progressed, the original Central Library Building became obsolete in its ability to contain the extensively expanding holdings in the Pratt Collection, even after the additional construction of an annex earlier. So, in 1927 all of the volumes, services, and staff members were relocated to a temporary housing within the old Rouse-Hempstone Building at West Redwood Street and Hopkins Place (where the Royal Farms Arena is currently located). This site served as the Central Building’s housing until 1933. During this time, things got underway in the construction of a new Central Library Building at 400 Cathedral Street.
The Central Library Building on Cathedral Street remains the anchoring location for the Enoch Pratt Free Library today. In addition, there are now 22 other branches throughout the city. These locations include Brooklyn, Canton, Cherry Hill, Clifton, Edmondson Avenue, Forest Park, Govans, Hamilton, Hampden, Herring Run, Light Street, Northwood, Orleans Street, Patterson Park, Pennsylvania Avenue, Reisterstown Road, Roland Park, Southeast Anchor, Walbrook, Washington Village, and Waverly. There are also three mobile units as well.
Enoch Pratt Free Library continues to prevail with many notable highlights to this day. Back in 2017, it went on to become one of the first fine-free public library systems on the entire East Coast. Then, in 2018, service hours across all of its locations increased by more than 30 percent. Within the last year alone, the library hit a 12-year high for circulation. It also had the highest number of new library cardholders in a seven-year span, as well as a significant increase in active cardholders. Another milestone high in recent years was a rise in the Summer Reading Program/Summer Break Baltimore. Furthermore, Enoch Pratt Free Library has been honored by both Reader’s Digest and Good Morning America, which even named it as one of the “Nicest Places in America.”
The Enoch Pratt Free Library truly is one of the most mutually befitting and benefitting ideas to ever emerge on the Baltimore scene. And with many locations and offerings now in existence, you have plenty of options to choose from on where to visit. Learn more about the library system and its several locations by visiting www.prattlibrary.org.