The Fremont neighborhood is the site of many “firsts” in Seattle, and it was the first to have a branch library.

In the 1890s there was only one public library in Seattle, located downtown. Residents of the growing Fremont neighborhood set up a reading room with privately donated books and newspapers where anyone could come to sit and read. A Seattle Daily Times article of January 1900 told of the formation of a library committee headed by Sidney Elder, a pharmacist at Fremont Drug Company, 3401 Fremont Avenue. The committee included other businessmen and their wives, who organized a community fund drive to buy books.

The Fremont Reading Room moved several times until the community petitioned the Seattle library system to build a branch library in Fremont. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie provided funds for the building itself. Another community fund drive and funds from the City of Seattle were used to purchase the land and add Fremont to the Seattle library system.

Architect Daniel R. Huntington received the commission to design the Fremont Branch Library building, which opened on July 27, 1921. The building’s architectural style is Mission Revival/Spanish, with red clay roof tiles, stucco walls and ornamental black ironwork on windows, railings and front gates.

In 2003 the Fremont Branch Library was “landmarked” as a significant structure worthy of historic preservation, under the City of Seattle’s Historic Preservation program.

Sources:

“Fremont Branch, Seattle Public Library.” HistoryLink Essay #3967 by David Wilma, 2002.

Fremont Drug Company in Seattle: Part One, Beginnings.” This blog article tells about an early business in Fremont and the active community members who helped organize Fremont’s reading room.