Press enter after choosing selection

Library To Be Located On Beal Property - School Board Members OK Downtown Site

Library To Be Located On Beal Property - School Board Members OK Downtown Site image
Parent Issue
Day
26
Month
January
Year
1956
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Work On Structure May Start In Spring; Plans Being Drawn

It's the Beal property.

That's the place the new $600,000 Ann Arbor Public Library will be built—as a result of informal agreement last night by six members of the Ann Arbor Board of Education.

Trustee Albert H. Marckwardt made this statement:

"All consideration of any public library site other than the Beal property has been withdrawn. A majority of the board expressed itself in favor of a centrally-located library and limited branch service ... at the high school (on Stadium Blvd). after school

Approval of the Beal library site Will be an agenda item at the school board’s formal monthly meeting Feb. 8 and will be formally voted upon at that time.

Absent from last night’s meeting in Supt. Jack Elzay’s office, when the six officials told their views, were Donald L. Katz, school board president, and Trustees Ashley Clague and Douglas E. H. Williams.

Decision Clears Way

The way is now clear for Alden B. Dow of Midland, architect for the library, to proceed with preliminary sketches for a building at E. William St. and S. Fifth Ave. Presumably, it will be a two-story structure.

Target for the start of construction is sometime this spring, although no timetable has been set for the completion of plans and asking of bids.

The former Beal house at 343 S. Fifth Ave. will be torn down to make way for the new structure. The house is occupied by Richard Maddy.

Prior to making the informal decision favoring the Beal site, school board members heard from Detroit library experts on library location, site cost, property needed for expansion and other matters dealing with location of a public library.

Appearing at the informal session as consultants were Arthur Yabroff, business manager of Detroit Public Library, and Walter H. Kaiser, head librarian for the Wayne County Public Library.

Follows Hearing

The decision favoring the Beal site came just one week after a board meeting at which an estimated 350 attending persons declared they favored the Beal site, as opposed to one person who voted for a Miller Ave. location which was being considered.

The decision ended about six months of deliberation by board members on the location of the new public library. The present library must be moved by Sept. 1, 1957, from its location in the northeast corner of Ann Arbor High School. The entire school was bought by the University for $1,400,000 and under a purchase agreement vacating of the library is to take place by Sept. 1, 1957.

A branch library, which would be set up on a limited basis in the new high school, is being planned for “one to two years" from now, according to board members’ agreement. Under present plans, the branch facility would be open after school hours and on Saturday on a limited basis.

In his statement, Marckwardt said that "The board expects in the near future to issue a full statement of the consideration affecting its decision (on the Beal site).”

The board plans to go over the library site issue on a step-by-step basis with the Library Advisory Council, which makes recommendations to the board on library policy and operation.