August 31, 1942 — No fuss and no feathers

On Sunday, August 30, 1942, the Tribune ran three photographs across the top of the page and told the north side that its library would open the following afternoon at three o'clock.

"No fuss and no feathers — just an informal unlocking of its doors to the public will mark the opening Monday of the new north side branch of the La Crosse public library."

— The La Crosse Tribune, August 30, 1942

It would be strictly informal, open to visitors during the regular hours of three to nine, because the grounds had not been landscaped. A formal opening would come later, Miss Lilly M. Borresen said. But the landscaping plans were still in the hands of the common council, so no date could be set.

The last thing this building was still waiting on, on the day it opened, was the common council.

What they built

The caption gave the figure: recently completed at a total cost of $56,591.58.

The children's room was set apart from the adult section altogether — small tables and chairs, low shelves with storage above, picture book racks, miniature reading stands with tilt tops and benches, and a fireplace. For the grown-ups there was a quiet room, not yet completely furnished, a cloistered nook where an adult could read away from the students in the outer reference section. In front of one of the windows in the adult reading room a space had been built for displaying books and posters, wired for electric light so the display could be seen from the sidewalk.

What the staff liked best, the paper reported, were the workrooms for repairing books, the large desk where several people could work comfortably at once, and the kitchenette at the back. There was a closet for cleaning things, three bathrooms, and a wardrobe for the staff's wraps.

Downstairs

And in the basement, exactly as the architect's caption had promised eleven months earlier, there was a club room.

A club room had been provided for meetings, alongside the book storage room and the furnace room. It had an outside entrance of its own. It was fitted with a built-in oak bench running the length of one wall, and furnished with chairs carried over from the old library on Caledonia Street. The north side women's club had already made plans to hold its meetings there, and the paper expected other organizations to follow.

Not everything had arrived. Because of war conditions some of the equipment that came had to be sent back for changes, and some had not come at all. Bookcases, tables and chairs from the old building were to be refinished and repaired for use downstairs.

What it looked like

Leaded window panes. Oaken beams and woodwork. Overhanging eaves. The Tribune called the effect faintly medieval: predominantly Old English, with a Gothic influence at the main entrance on Kane Street.

A month earlier a man from Wood Street had written in to say it looked like the county jail.