Early Calls for a Public Library
The first library organized in Columbus was the State Library of Ohio in 1817. The State Library was one of the first state agencies created. Its purpose was to serve the information and research needs of state government. Therefore this library did not meet the need of having publically accessible books to the citizens of Columbus. The first circulating libraries in Columbus began to emerge in the 1820s. Members could subscribe for a fee and get access to items owned by the library. By 1830, Columbus had a population of around 2,400 people and with population growth came more businesses and a desire for more cultural arts. In 1835, the Columbus Reading Room and Institute was established with access to books, newspapers and periodicals. The business plan was to support the reading room through fee-based lecture courses. By 1839, however, the Ohio State Journal announced that the venture had ended because the reading room could not attract enough paying patrons.
Other circulating libraries ventures included were the Western Lyceum and the Franklin Lyceum. The Western Lyceum library had a reading room and an attached circulating library where books could be checked out for a small fee. But like the Columbus Reading Room and Institute before it, the Western Lyceum was unable to survive on the lecture series model and it closed in 1844. In 1846 the Franklin Lyceum was incorporated with a similar model and closed in 1848. Another effort to form a public reading institution took place in 1853 when the Columbus Athenaeum was established in the Franklin County Courthouse. It was supported by private contributions and proceeds from lecture series (speakers included Ralph Waldo Emerson and P.T. Barnum). The Athenaeum was a successful endeavor for many years, but by 1871 the lecture series had ceased.
With the closure of the Columbus Atheneum came an opportunity to create a truly free public library for all citizens of Columbus. On June 15, 1871 John W. Andrews and Joseph Hutcheson, a former Atheneum library officer, made remarks at City Hall to urge the city to open a public library. The ordinance to establish the library was passed in January 1872 and the first 1,200 books were donated by the surviving directors of the Columbus Atheneum library. The formal opening of the library took place at city hall on March 4, 1873.
