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RPL History

1872

Rockford Public Library organized on June 17th, the second library organized under the new Illinois statute providing for the maintenance of public libraries by taxation.

Reading rooms opened in August on the second floor of a building at the corner of State and Main Streets.

1873 Rockford Public Library begins circulating books on February 1st.
1876 Rockford Public Library moves to rooms over the Post Office at the west end of State Street bridge.
1901 Andrew Carnegie grant of $70,000 announced to build the Main Library in downtown Rockford.
1902 Carnegie Building opened to the public and dedicated in November.
1904

Beattie Museum of Natural History housed on second floor.

Seventh Street Branch opened June 20th in Svea Soner building.

1917 Seventh Street branch moved into new building at 428 Sixth Street; named changed to Rowland Branch.
1918 Highland Branch opened May 27th in newly enlarged Highland School.
1923 Montague Branch building opened to public and dedicated on May 24th.
1930 Highland Branch moved from school to building at 109 Shaw Street.
1931 Business and Technical Room opened at the Main Library on April 1st.
1946 Teenage Book Room opened at Main Library.
1947 Listening Room and Record Collection founded.
1950 Bookmobile service began in October.
1951 New and enlarged Highland Branch opened October 1 at E. State Street and St. Louis Avenue.
1965 Addition to Carnegie Building completed.

Remodeling of old Carnegie Building began in December.
1971 Rock River Branch opened on January 9th.
1979 All branches closed in April.
1980

Montague and Rock River branches re-opened in January.

Rockton Centre Branch re-opened in April.

Northeast Branch re-opened in June.

1985 Compact discs added to the collection.
1986 Northeast Branch opens in a new location at 320 N. Alpine Road.
1993 Online computer catalog opened to the public.
1994 Lewis Lemon branch opened.
1997 Access to the Internet is made available to the public on Rockford Public Library computers.

Rock River Branch moves into new building across the parking lot from its former location in Eleventh St. Plaza.
1998 Rockford Public Library web site is launched.
2002 Montague Branch is expanded and renovated and is re-opened to the public in May.
2003

Rockford Public Library debuts a new logo to better represent the new collection focus on popular materials.

Library hires its first development officer, the only one working for any library in the state of Illinois.

Library begins it's first “One Book, One Rockford” initiative. The citizens of Rockford chose “Into Thin Air” as the first book.

Library doubles Lewis Lemon branch in size at no cost to the taxpayer.

Library installs three new wireless computer labs at Montague, Rock River , and Main Library.

2004

Rockford Public Library starts an innovative “floating collection” using a new integrated online library catalog dubbed “Max” for “Maximum Access.” Library introduces “Max” to the public for the first time at On the Waterfront through electronic postcards.

Rockford Public Library wins first ‘Heart of Rockford ' Award for Best Festival by the River District Association for the 2003 Summer Reading Club “Where's Jane? She's Reading at Rockford Public Library.” In March, the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services also features the program on their front web page.

Library achieves largest summer reading club ever with 9,050 participants reading an estimated 60,000 books over the summer, a 46% increase over two years prior.

Library debuts the Financial Opportunities Center to help Rockfordians easily find business and personal finance information. The collection includes an online collection of local scholarship opportunities.

Library debuts its inaugural “Festival of Words”, a celebration of the written and spoken word, featuring authors, spoken word artists, writing workshops, a local author showcase, and murder mystery dinner.

Rockford Public Library increases open hours to the Local History collection by 52% to match regular library hours.



 
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