Belmar Public Library

The Belmar Public Library is the public library of Belmar, New Jersey located at 517 10th Avenue.

The library circulates about 15,000 items annually from its collection of 32,000 volumes.[1] The Jersey Shore town in 2010 had year-round population of about 6,000.[2] The library, one of New Jersey's original thirty-six Carnegie libraries, is in need of repairs and may be consolidated into the town's borough hall, and possibly join the Monmouth County Library system. The building may be demolished or possibly relocated from the intersection made famous by the E Street Band.[3]

Carnegie library
Carnegie portrait (detail) in the National Portrait Gallery[4]

Founding

Started by a women's group, the first Belmar Library opened on Sept. 23, 1911, and saw several different locations as it expanded. It has stood at 10th Avenue and E Street since Dec. 4, 1914.[5] The current building is one of New Jersey's original thirty-six Carnegie libraries, constructed with a grant of $13,000 made the Carnegie Corporation,[6][7] still in use. Its design and layout by Edward Lippincott Tilton, who had also done Ellis Island, so impressed Andrew Carnegie, that he suggested it be used a model for and many other Carnegie libraries constructions. The current library building occupies 1,800 square feet in the upstairs portion, and about 900 square feet in the lower level media room[3] In 1935, the centennial of his Carnegie's birth, a copy of the portrait of him originally painted by F. Luis Mora was given to the library.[8]

In July 2011, an eight-foot high replica of Bruce Springsteen's legendary Fender Esquire guitar was placed on the library grounds at E Street and 10th Avenue, not far from where band member David Sancious lived in the 1970s.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Belmar Public Library". librarytechnology.org. September 21, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  2. 2011 Apportionment Redistricting: Municipalities sorted alphabetically Archived 2011-12-24 at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed 2011-10-03.
  3. Mulshine, Molly. "Is demolition in future of library?". Star News Group. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
  4. National Portrait Gallery catalogue
  5. Roper, Grace Trott (1978). "Belmar in Retropect". belmarlibrary.homestead.com. Archived from the original on 2001-04-18. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
  6. Bobinski, George S. (1969). Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development. Chicago: American Library Association. ISBN 0-8389-0022-4.
  7. Jones, Theodore (1997). Carnegie Libraries Across America. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-14422-3.
  8. "Belmar Public Library". Wall, New Jersey. American towns. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
  9. Goldstein, Stan (July 27, 2011), Eight-foot replica of Bruce Springsteen's Fender Esquire guitar on display on E Street in, retrieved 2011-10-03

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