Rainier Beach Station, The Seattle Public Library, opens on March 5, 1928.

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On March 5, 1928, the Rainier Beach Station, The Seattle Public Library opens at 9267 57th Avenue S. The space is rented with contributions from the community. Budgets cuts during the Great Depression will force the library to close the station in 1932. Another branch will not open until 1966.

In the 1920s, the Seattle Public Library operated deposit stations in drug stores on 57th Avenue S near Rainier Avenue S. The last station closed in 1924.

Community groups organized a library committee (all women) under the leadership of Gertrude Earle. The committee lobbied library management and found a storefront near the Rainier Beach interurban stop, which it rented for a year at $20 a month. The money came from donations solicited by community groups. The library provided the services of a librarian three days a week, and books on loan from other branches.

The station closed in 1932 because of budget cuts caused by the Great Depression.

Sources:
"Rainier Beach Library -- Annual Reports," folder, Seattle Public Library Archives.

By Dave Wilma, December 08, 2002

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Rainier Beach Branch, Seattle Public Library, 1931
Courtesy UW Special Collections (Neg. SEA0376)