Main Body
Chapter 19. The Expansion of the Library’s Physical Plant and its Services
Although only thirty-one years old, the Main Library Building had been bulging at the seams for a number of years. I recall discussions during the administrations of Charles Rush and Clarence Metcalf about the possibility of securing the neighboring building to the west, the old Post Office Building to serve as a Main Library Annex. The need was raised again during L. Quincy Mumford’s time. The Library Boards during those directorships did not have some one like Marjorie Damison as President.
By July 1956, Mrs. Marjorie Damison, who was the wife of Robert Damison, who coincidentally also had been President of the Cleveland City School District School Board earlier, had assumed strong leadership role not only as an active citizen of the city of Cleveland, but also as a dynamic leader of the Library Board. She began the July Library Board meeting by announcing that she had met with the School Board and had read her letter of July 16 to that board regarding the need for floating a bond issue to purchase the vacant Plain Dealer Building, our neighbor at the corner of East Sixth Street, to relieve the over crowded conditions of the Main Library Building. She reported that the School Board as the Library’s parent body and taxing authority had unanimously voted approval of the Library’s request for a $3,000,000 bond issue, thus clearing the way for its submission to the voters in a subsequent election.
In my position of Business Manager, I found myself working closely with Mrs. Damison and the Building and Finance Committees of the Library Board and so became deeply involved in every detail of the planning for and the actual acquisition and remodeling of the Plain Dealer Building. It was not to be an easy matter. I found myself doing much of the legwork and paperwork connected with the project, the latter required many nights of burning the midnight oil. We had to overcome many obstacles before the building finally became the Main Library’s Annex.
Initially all appeared to go smoothly. Mrs. Jamison’s leadership, drive and political contacts were awesome, she had managed to get the Cleveland School Board to accept and approve our resolution for a Bond Issue for $3,000,000 to purchase, remodel and furnish the Plain Dealer to the east of our Main Library. She had gotten Sterling E. Graham, Chairman of the Board of the Forest City Publishing Company to agree to sell the Plain Dealer Building to the Library for $2,100,000, all by the time that the Library Board met on July 24, 1956. But then our problems began.
During the course of the July 24th Board Meeting, we had the sad task of informing the Board that Mr. Sterling Graham had informed us that the Forest City Publishing Company did not own a twenty foot strip of land under the westerly portion of the Plain Dealer Building between Superior and Rockwell Avenues, that it was held on a 99 year lease, dating from August 1, 1919, at a rental of $6,400 a year for the balance of the term of the lease, the lessor being the E W. Gehring Family.
The Board was advised that if it wanted to continue with the purchase, it had the choice of either taking over the expired lease or having the strip condemned and buying the land under eminent domain. This was a problem that the Finance Committee was asked to wrestle with and come back with a recommendation at the next meeting.
During the next meeting on August 29, 1956, there was considerable discussion of the twenty foot strip lease and the total purchase price of the building and the land. The Finance Committee decided that we should go back to negotiate with Mr. Graham, which she and I did. Mrs. Jamison, I recall was magnificent with Mr. Graham, getting him to agree to go back to his board to see if that board would agree to purchase the twenty foot strip and so be able to sell the total property free and clear of any encumbrance to the Library.
While this was going on another problem surfaced. The Board of Education reneged on its promise to place the Library’s Building Bond Issue on the ballot in the forthcoming November election when it adopted the following resolution in its meeting of September 4, 1956:
The Library’s Physical Plant 131 with election) adopted on August 7, 1956, and notify the Board of Elections, thereof, and direct the Board of Elections not to place the issue on the ballot.” The resolution was signed by Michael Wach, Clerk Treasurer of the School Board. The reason given being that the Library’s Bond Issue might jeopardize the passage of its own operating levy that was to appear on the ballot at the same time.
This was shocking news and a major setback in our planning. This however, did not stop us from proceeding with our negotiations with Sterling Graham and the Board of the Forest City Publishing Company. By the time that the Library Board met again on November 28, 1956, we were able to report that the Forest City Publishing Company had agreed to negotiate its asking price downward if it developed that the Library Board would have to take over the lease of the westerly twenty foot strip under the Plain Dealer and its rental cost. We had also gotten Sterling Graham and his board to consider keeping the Plain Dealer on the market for us until the next regular election if it were not possible to get the School Board to place it on the ballot in the next special election on January 21, 1957. In the meantime, we had also sought and received an informed written opinion from the City Law Department on library bond issues and levies to make sure we could not be thwarted again by the School Board in our next attempt to place the bond issue on the ballot so we could proceed with the purchase of The Plain Dealer Building in 1957.
In the Board Meeting of April 17, 195 7, we were able to report that the opinion received from the City Law Department held that whenever the Library Board requests the Board of Education by resolution to submit a bond issue or levy, it is mandatory for the School Board to submit the issue to the electorate at the next general election unless the Board of Education is at the statutory limit of its bonded indebtedness. We were now armed and ready with the law for our next attempt to get our issue on the ballot.
Sterling Graham and Sidney Jackson, attorney from the Forest City Publishing Company, were invited to May 21, 1957 Library Board meeting, at which time, Mr. Jackson advised the board that the lease on the westerly twenty foot strip of land held with the Gehring family could be legally transferred to the Library at the existing annual rental of $6,400 plus taxes amounting to $1,000 a year. Mr. Graham completed the good news when he added that the Forest City Publishing Company had agreed to sell The Plain Dealer Building and the rest of the land on which it rested at the Library’s last offer of $1,600,000.
At this point, the first and only objection to purchase the building by a Library Board member was voiced by Stanley Klonowski, who maintained that the Library did not need the additional building. He advised that the board should proceed with caution. The board noted his caution and proceeded to discuss the financing. Their initial thinking being that if the bond issue were for $3,000,000, it would provide for the $1,600,000 to purchase the building, that $1,200,000 could be for building alterations and furnishings, and a tunnel to connect the resulting annex to the Main Library Building, which would leave $200,000 to invest in tax exempt Government bonds that could yield the $6,400 and the $1,000 for the taxes for the twenty foot strip of land to be leased. All the while, we were writing a rough draft of a resolution for the bond issue to go to the School Board. Since we had run out of time, the Library board recessed the meeting until the next day’, May 22, to finalize the financing plans and to act on our resolution, all for review by Andrew Sarisky of the City Law Department who had been asked to attend the meeting.
On May 22, 1957, The Library Board reconvened at 9:00 P.M. After much discussion and on Mr. Sarisky’s advice, the Board changed it thinking on the financing of the Plain Dealer Building’s leased westerly twenty foot strip of land. He advised that it would be better to pay the annual rent and taxes for the land from operating funds rather than from any funds from the bond issue. As a result the Board passed the following resolution:
City School District be and is hereby requested to submit the aforesaid bond issue and the levy of a tax outside of the limitations to pay the interest on and to retire such bonds at the regular election to be held in said school district on the 5th day of November, 1957, and if said election is successful, thereupon to issue such bonds and notes in anticipation hereof under and pursuant to the provisions of Section 133.01 to 133.65 of the Revised Code and of the pertinent provisions of Article XII of the Ohio Constitution, this request being made pursuant to Section 33 75.43 of the Revised Code of Ohio; and that the Clerk of this Board be and he is hereby directed to certify a copy of this resolution forthwith to the Board of the Cleveland City School District.
The record shows that the resolution passed with six yeas and one nay. The nay vote was cast by Stanley Klonowski, who in so doing read the following statement into the record:
1. The present Main Library Building contains more than enough space for all its operations.
2. A large space of said library building is used for a restaurant and two large public meeting rooms, which could be used for library services.
3. The Cleveland Library System has thirty-eight branches, partially occupied.
4. The free space in the branches can be used for the main Library surplus.
There is no reason to waste three million dollars of taxpayer’s money. hereby request this statement be
recorded in the minutes of this meeting. Respectfully submitted./s/Stanley J. Klonowski
The Board accepted Mr. Klonowski’s statement for the record and then proceeded to vote the following resolution:
This resolution was passed with six yeas and one nay. The one negative vote again was cast by Stanley Klonowski. This time the Board of Education followed through, and placed the bond issue on the ballot. We were finally on the way to getting the former Plain Dealer Building.
The entire Library staff rolled up its collective sleeves and put on a marvelous campaign to convince the voters to approve the $3,000,000 bond issue. We were successful! Although Director Lindquist and I as Business Manager with the close support of Mrs. damison and the rest of the Board spent many hours after work campaigning. A great deal of credit for getting the votes required must go to people like Rose Vormelker, Emelia Wefel, Varelia Farmer, Adeline Corrigan, Fern Long, Loraine Slater in their administrative capacities, and Branch Librarians like Catherine Graves, Margery Ramisch, Hilda Miller and so many others too numerous to mention.
On November 5, 1957, the electors of the Cleveland City School District by a majority of 66 percent approved the bond issue, which was well above the 55 percent required, thereby providing for the acquisition of The Plain Dealer Building and its renovation and equipping it as a much needed annex for the Main Library. This was the library’s first bond issue in thirty-five years. I recall that in our bidding process that it only cost the library 2.66 percent to retire the bonds over a period of fifteen years, which was the lowest interest rate for any local municipal issue in years.
