In 1903, "Steel King" Andrew Carnegie pledged $250,000—today's equivalent of eight million dollars—for seven new branch library buildings in the City of Cleveland. One of the existing branches that was intended to benefit from the pledge was the West Side branch library. Opened in 1892, it was Cleveland's first branch library. Since 1898, it had occupied a building on Franklin Boulevard near Pearl (West 25th) Street. The building—still standing and known today as the "Cinecraft Building"—had been designed and built for the branch, but was owned by People's Savings Bank which leased it to Cleveland Public Library. Just two days after the newspapers reported Carnegie's pledge, a Cleveland Plain Dealer article pointed to the Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees' plan to use part of the donation to relocate the West Side branch to the northwest corner of Pearl and Lorain Street (Avenue), where the old Pearl Street Market stood. The City of Cleveland was in the process of planning to construct a new West Side Market right across Pearl Street from old one, and the Library offered that, if the City would donate the old market property to it, the Library would expend $50,000 of the Carnegie funds to construct a new library building on the property that would feature a large auditorium for the public. The Library's proposal to site the new West Side branch library across the street from where the new West Side Market was to be built drew an immediate and negative public response. At least four different groups of residents and/or business owners protested the proposal and recommended various other locations for the new branch library. One of these groups felt so strongly that, on June 8, 1903, two hundred of its members traveled downtown to Cleveland Public Library's main building, which then stood on the southeast corner of Wood (East 3rd) Street and Rockwell Street (Avenue). There they protested outside—while the Board held a meeting inside—each member wearing a silk badge that read: "Branch Library, Corner Clark Avenue and Lorain Street." As a result of the widespread public opposition, the Library abandoned its Pearl Street market site proposal and instead referred the matter to a committee for additional study and recommendations. Nearly two years passed before the Library's Board of Trustees, after reviewing its committee's recommendations, decided in 1905 to site the new West Side branch library on Fulton Road (then, Rhodes Avenue), just north of Lorain Avenue. This was then a central location in a fast growing area of the West Side that was centered upon the Lorain Avenue commercial corridor. In a few years, the intersection of Lorain and Fulton would become known as Lorain-Fulton Square. The Board purchased three lots on Fulton, no more than 100 feet from Lorain, and was prepared to begin the construction process when, once again, the West Side public intervened. In the same month that the Library completed the purchase of its lots on Fulton, the West Side Improvement Association (WSIA), an organization of business owners and other prominent West Side individuals, held a meeting at the Catholic Club, on Bridge Avenue just west of historic St. Patrick Catholic Church.  Some 400 people, including Librarian William H. Brett, reportedly attended. There, a proposal was made for the City to purchase additional land on Fulton north of the lots that the Library had purchased; use the Library's lots to extend Kentucky (West 38th) Street from Bridge to Fulton; and then create a park in the resulting triangular-shaped piece of land where the new West Side branch could then be sited. Ward 3 Councilman Thomas Croke, in whose ward the library and park would be located, agreed to introduce a City Council resolution to direct the City administration to explore the feasibility and cost of such a  plan. Cleveland City Council adopted the WSIA park proposal resolution, and ultimately, it resulted in an additional two and one-half years of delay in the siting and building of the new West Side branch library. During that period, City Park Engineer William Stinchcomb, who later became known as the "Father of the Cleveland Metroparks," floated an idea of making the proposed library park a "civic center" where statues of prominent literary figures could be placed. He suggested that the Schiller-Goethe monument, which stood in the way of the soon-to-be-built Cleveland Museum of Art, could be moved from Wade Park to the new library park to represent Germany's contributions to world literature. Stinchcomb's proposal, a forerunner to the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, was never acted upon and the Schiller-Goethe monument was destined to remain where it was until it was relocated to the German Cultural Garden in 1929.  By 1907, the delay in planning and constructing the new West Side branch library was not the only problem facing the Library. It had exhausted nearly all of  Andrew Carnegie's 1903 donation in building the first five of the proposed seven new branches, and now, moreover, there were substantial additional expenses projected to be incurred by the City and Library in purchasing the land needed for the library park, building the Kentucky Street extension, creating the park in which the library would be located, and then actually building the new branch.  These expenses easily could have doomed the project. However, in a sign of how much he valued both the branch library project itself and Librarian Brett as a resource, Andrew Carnegie stepped in and made additional donations to ensure that the new West Side branch library would be built. 

After learning from Brett that building the first five branches had exhausted the original donation, Carnegie agreed to donate an additional $123,000 to construct the last two branches—the new West Side Branch library and new South Branch library. In 1908, in order to ensure that there were sufficient funds to enable the City to purchase the land for the park and the Kentucky Street extension, he donated an additional $110,000. Without these last two donations, it is questionable whether the West Side branch library would ever have been built, let alone in the grand form of the building that sits on Fulton Road today. James Bertram, Andrew Carnegie's personal secretary, noted how extraordinary the first of these two additional donations were in a letter he wrote to the Library on July 2, 1907:  "Mr. Carnegie congratulates Cleveland upon exceeding even Pittsburg in proportion to the amount of population, in Library appropriation, placing Cleveland first of all." 

With the all-important land acquired, construction of the new West Side branch library (appropriately renamed Carnegie West in a nod to Carnegie's 1908 donation) began in the fall of that year and was completed in the spring of 1910. Designed by New York architect Edward L. Tilton in a modified Renaissance style with classical elements, the new branch was built in a triangular shape, with a facade composed of red brick, limestone and terra cotta. It has banded and fluted columns and pilasters in the Ionic style. With an interior covering 25,000 square feet of space, Carnegie West was Cleveland's largest branch library building. It had weathered oak finish and walls adorned with carbon prints of famous pictures and noted buildings. A majority of the rooms also had plaster friezes. There were balconies in the children's and reference rooms. An auditorium in the basement seated 650 persons. The new library was dedicated and officially opened to the public in May. Several months later, library experts from the American Library Association visited Cleveland to see the new branch library. According to an article appearing in the Plain Dealer on July 29, 1910, they unanimously declared, "for general attractiveness, facilities for circulating books, up-to-date interior equipment, method of handling the books and the ability of those on the staff, the West Side institution, for a branch library, stood without a peer anywhere in the United States." In the course of its long history, one of the library's most endearing traditions has been its service to the segment of the neighborhood population with the greatest educational needs, viz., immigrants and other non-English speakers.  When the branch library opened in 1910, that group was largely composed of Hungarian immigrants who had been moving into the neighborhood since the late 19th century. Carnegie West staff welcomed them by providing books in their native language, sponsoring their cultural events at the library or in Library Park, and by offering classes in English. When World War I intervened and caused many Americans to question the loyalty of Hungarians and other recent immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, the Cleveland Public librarians, including those at Carnegie West, responded with their own version of "Americanization," which showed a respect for the culture, language and traditions of the newcomers and offered their services and materials to help them navigate their new life in this country.  In the second half of the 20th century, Puerto Ricans and other Spanish speaking people began to move into the Ohio City neighborhood, gradually replacing the Hungarian-Americans as the largest ethnic group of non-English speakers. Just as it had for Hungarian residents, Carnegie West provided books in their native language and offered the library as a place to hold cultural events. In 1992, when Carnegie West celebrated the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first West Side branch library, the celebration included a demonstration of traditional Hispanic and Hungarian dances. As the library aged in the second half of the twentieth century and the population of the Ohio City neighborhood shrank, the Library Board of Trustees was forced to weigh whether to retain the large library building or tear it down and replace it with a smaller building "better sized" for the neighborhood.  When this was proposed in 1979, West Side residents turned out in opposition to the proposal just as they had some seven decades earlier. Cleveland Public Library listened and decided instead to renovate and remodel the historic building, reducing its interior space in half, even though the cost of doing so was greater than that of constructing a smaller replacement.  In the ensuing years, other major repairs and renovations have been made to the building, including the 2004 repainting of the interior walls to their original colors. Today, 113 years after it first opened to the public, Carnegie West remains an architectural jewel in the Lorain-Fulton area and an important civic and cultural center for the entire Ohio City neighborhood.

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The structure on the northwest corner of Clark Avenue and Scranton Road was closed for more than five years, during which time library officials, architects, community development organizations and neighborhood residents worked to reconcile views of the building’s future and subsequently orchestrate a massive renovation. But it all worked: At the age of 107, one of Cleveland’s original Carnegie Libraries was reborn.

The South Branch Library story predates Andrew Carnegie’s largess. The first library in the vicinity opened in 1897 in a rented building on the corner of Clark Avenue and Joseph Street (changed to West 20th Street in 1906 and Twinkie Lane in 1976). It was yellow brick with stone trimmings. Oak desks, bookcases and tables held as many as 7,000 volumes. Books were fumigated in 1901-02 due to a smallpox epidemic.

In 1903 the Cleveland Public Library “branch building program” was launched with a $250,000 gift from Andrew Carnegie. By 1914 a total of $590,000 was received. These monies ultimately underwrote the construction of 14 library branches: Broadway, Brooklyn, Carnegie West, East 79th Street, Hough, Jefferson, Lorain, Miles Park, Quincy, St. Clair, Sterling, Superior, Woodland and, of course, “South.” Each branch had its own collection of books and a full complement of librarians and assistants. More than 100 years later, the Brooklyn, Carnegie West, Jefferson, Lorain, Sterling and South buildings are still being used as libraries.

South Branch was the eighth to be built and the first Carnegie facility in the city to be made of stone rather than brick. Described as English Gothic on the outside and Tudor on the inside, it opened on June 12, 1911. Total cost for the land and building was $71,800. Architect Henry Whitfield, who previously designed Tufts College in Massachusetts and myriad other Carnegie libraries, cited Hoghton Tower in Lancashire, England, as his inspiration for South Branch.

The building is constructed of rough-hewn gray limestone and features a rectangular framed front entrance and windows. Crenellations (castle-like cutouts) line the roof parapet. An octagonal skylight over a central court gives the interior a remarkable “outside” feel. Fireplace tiles—designed in a style called “Medieval Decoratives”—were made by Moravian Pottery & Tile Works in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

When South Branch opened, the neighborhood primarily comprised German, Bohemian and American-born families. By 1924 many long-term residents had moved on, replaced by a wider variety of immigrants. Around that time, 21 different nationalities were represented in the South Branch register.

In the 1960s, the South Branch community was dealt a variety of serious blows: Most severe were the construction of Interstate 71 several hundred yards to the east and Interstate 90/490 roughly the same distance to the north. Hundreds of area homes were destroyed and the library was symbolically separated from thousands of neighbors. An ongoing residential exodus (an estimated population drop of 31 percent from 1960 to 1970) further reduced the library’s patronage.

Today, South Branch is one of two libraries serving a recovering Tremont neighborhood as well as visitors from surrounding communities such as Clark-Fulton, Stockyards and Ohio City. The population served by the library is still smaller than it was several generations ago, but the range of services it provides and the strength of support it receives from neighbors and patrons are greater than ever.

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” —Albert Einstein

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In 1913, a Van Sweringen “Group Plan” was beginning to take form in the young village of Shaker Heights. Construction of a stately school on Southington Road was nearing completion.  Borrowing from the neighboring City of Cleveland’s ambitious efforts to centralize civic buildings, a large oval tract had been donated to the village by the Van Sweringens as a potential site for an elementary school, town hall, high school and small library. While Boulevard School would be the only structure realized at this site, the short-lived plan displays early efforts to anchor civic life around school buildings in Shaker Heights’ emerging residential community.  



The Van Sweringen brothers invested heavily to bring this vision to fruition. A 1923 promotional publication for the Village of Shaker Heights claimed the investment of over two million dollars in property and equipment to the development of the village’s five educational institutions, and noted their intentions of building a school to serve each square mile of the suburb.  By 1931, ten public schools had been constructed.  Civic life centered around these educational institutions, which regularly housed the social, recreational, cultural and religious activities of the community. Despite the inclusion of a library in early plans for the Village of Shaker Heights, a public building devoted to this use was never erected during the suburb’s developmental years. Library services, however, grew from within the walls of Shaker Heights schools to become a valued public amenity. Prompted by community demand, an independent school district library was established in 1937 and the institution found a home in the Lee-Kinsman Building at the intersection of Kinsman (Chagrin Boulevard) and Lee Roads. By mid century, the library had emerged as a civic institution in its own right. These early years shaped both the future development and identity of Shaker Heights Public Library. The library’s significance as a civic institution and anchor of the Moreland neighborhood was reaffirmed in 1993 by a return to the place of its founding, the site of the former Moreland School.  



Public library services in Shaker Heights grew from the dedicated study rooms and book collections of the village’s school libraries. The only Shaker Heights library recognized by the Library Club of Cleveland and Vicinity in its 1924 handbook was operated out of Shaker Heights High School. The school, which would later be renamed Woodbury Elementary School, established its library in 1919. A graduate of Western Reserve University Library School was appointed as librarian the following year.  The library was available for use by teachers and students during the day.  Its materials supplied Shaker Heights’ classrooms and school libraries. Transition from a school-based system into a public institution was prompted by the creation of the Cuyahoga County Public Library during the early 1920s.



Spearheaded by librarian Linda Eastman of the Cleveland Public Library, efforts to make the nationally renowned institution available to county residents were met with popular support. The Ohio State Legislature authorized the creation and funding of county libraries in 1921, and a regional vote approved the establishment of a Cuyahoga County district the following year. With the law to be enacted in April of 1924, Cleveland Public Library’s County Department was formed to begin making preparations for the extension of library services to all persons living within the county.  Operated as a department of Cleveland Public Library, the County Library was an independent institution with its own personnel, book collection and funding. Early efforts focused on utilizing schools in outlying areas as distribution centers for library materials. The existing public libraries in Cleveland were also made available to county residents beginning in March, 1924.



Shortly after the creation of the County Department, negotiations began with Shaker Heights Superintendent of Schools to transform Shaker Heights High School Library into a branch of the new library system.  The village’s Board of Education approved the plans in June, 1924, and services were made available to the public beginning in October of that year. A basement room at the high school was converted into a workspace for staff, and new shelving was added to the library.  The existing book collection was supplemented by the County Library, and the position of school librarian taken over by a county employee.



The new librarian continued lending materials for classroom collections at Boulevard, East View, Malvern, Onaway and Sussex elementary schools, and immediately implemented in-house programming for Shaker Heights elementary school classes.  To accommodate its new adult patrons, the library extended weekday hours till five in the afternoon and opened on Saturday mornings. Access to the library was briefly offered on Tuesday evenings, but little demand was found for the service. 



During its first two years of operations at Shaker Heights High School, the County Library documented a steady rise in the circulation of materials. A 1926 report by the County Department noted that “the grown people of the community have discovered that the library is there and are demanding more service than our very new organization can give.” It was also quickly determined that the site of Shaker Heights High School was “far from ideal as a library center.”  A new branch of the County Library was planned for Moreland School, which was under construction at the time.   Shaker Heights Board of Education approved plans for a large room and workspace to be dedicated for use as a public library within the building. 



The public library in Moreland School opened on November 2, 1926. Final plans for the site included a room for adults, a room for students, and a work space for staff. The new facility housed a mixed collection of books culled from both County Library resources and the Shaker Heights High School collection. Moreland School’s library immediately supplanted the High School as the center for elementary school book distribution and classroom visits, but the High School branch remained staffed by its county-funded librarian and housed administrative duties for patron registration. Demand for library services from both students and adults continued to grow, and the Board of Education approved the purchase of a book truck to facilitate transportation of incoming and outgoing requested materials.  



Over the next decade, library services in Shaker Heights expanded as part of the Cuyahoga County Library system. Both Shaker Heights High School and Moreland School branches remained opened to the public, and furnished books to Shaker Heights’ Junior High and seven elementary school libraries. In response to community demand for increased services, including weekend and evening hours, the Shaker Heights Board of Education approved the creation of an independent school district library in 1937. A seven-member Library Board of Trustees was appointed by the Board of Education to govern the institution, which served the same geographic area as the school system. The Library Board was responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing all polices related to the library, including its services, budget and staff.  The Cuyahoga County Library remained affiliated with the successor institution, allowing patrons to borrow from its circulating system. The independent library, however, operated separately from the Cuyahoga County branches and received a share of the intangible property tax revenue that financed the region’s libraries.
 


Arrangements were made to secure a site for the library at the intersection of Lee and Kinsman Roads soon after its institutional founding.  The owner of the Lee-Kinsman Building would erect a 49- by 70-foot, one-story addition to his commercial structure, and the newly installed Library Board agreed to lease the building for five years. Additionally, the board hired Ellen Ewing as Head Librarian to oversee the process of organizing and purchasing books for the Shaker Heights community. Opened to the public in 1938, the leased storefront was only planned as temporary headquarters. In 1941, the Board of Education agreed to sell property on Moreland School grounds to the Library Board for the construction of a new library. East View School, which had served as the neighborhood’s elementary school prior to the opening of Moreland Elementary School, had been converted into warehouse space; It would be demolished to make room for the new structure. Bond issues were approved by Shaker Heights voters in 1945 and 1948 for library construction, but construction was delayed due to World War II.


Concerns over the legitimacy of the independent school district library also delayed construction plans.  Beginning in 1946, the County Budget Commission reduced the income of several regional independent libraries. Interpreted as an attempt by the Cuyahoga County Library to absorb Shaker Heights’ library, the actions of the commission presented “an intolerable situation…that…will hamper the operation of the library in the coming year, jeopardize the proposed library building and deny the citizens of Shaker Heights the library services for which they have clearly expressed their desire.” The situation grew dire with the passage of a state law that barred the establishment of independent libraries in 1947. Because no prior law existed permitting Shaker Heights from withdrawing from the county system, the future of the library was in question.  



In 1948, the Board of Education announced it would initiate a test case to determine the legal status of independent library systems. The sale of $150,000 in notes was ordered towards financing construction of the new Shaker Heights Library, which the Clerk-Treasurer refused to issue. The case went before the Cuyahoga County Court of Appeal, and was decided in the Board of Education’s favor. The Court of Appeals compelled the Clerk-Treasurer to sell Shaker Heights’ bonds, confirming the legality of independent libraries established prior to the 1947 state law. Bids were accepted by the Shaker Heights Library Board in 1949 for the construction of a new edifice at 3450 Lee Road, the current site of the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Community Building. The library’s construction was long overdue.  More than 30,000 books were packed into the existing small, storefront location. 



The new library opened to the public in 1951. Just as the head librarian curated materials for Shaker patrons, the state-of-the-art facility was fashioned to reflect the character of the community. The interior of the civic building exuded a comfortable, home-like setting. Elaborate woodwork, easy chairs, multicolored drapes, end tables, reading lamps and an open fireplace offered visitors the ambiance of a residential study. Upon entering a room devoted to the history of the Shaker religious community, peg board floors and an off-white paint job presented patrons with a historically accurate replication of the religious sect's penchant for the austere. Low tables marked areas devoted for use by children, while space for quiet study acted as a memorial to the recently deceased Ellen Ewing.



Over the next four decades, the independent library continued to expand and diversify its services. Building renovations were made, the Bertam Wood branch opened and a number of outreach programs were instituted. Computer terminals replaced card catalogs, while patron access to library materials grew exponentially with the introduction of the Online Computer Library Catalog database and CLEVNET.  The introduction of videocassettes, books-on-tape and audio compact discs to the library catalog precipitated a surge in circulation beginning in the late 1980s.  



Sources of revenue to finance library services also changed. Beginning in 1974, county funds were supplemented through the passage of local library tax levies. Shaker Heights residents regularly displayed support for their independent library through the passage of operational levies since that time.  Per capita circulation of Shaker Heights Public Library materials consistently remained the highest in the county during the 1980s and 1990s.



As the once-spacious building at 3450 Lee Road grew crowded with materials and patrons, plans were developed to expand and modernize the main library.  After exhaustive studies, the recently vacated Moreland School site next door was chosen as the library’s new home. Previously relegated to rooms at the eastern entrance of the structure between 1926 and 1938, the library would return to Moreland School as the primary occupant. The school house would once again be an anchor for civic life in the region. The new library was dedicated and opened to the public in 1993.

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The Cleveland Public Library comprises one of the largest collections in the United States: nearly ten million items. The Library’s two buildings on Superior Avenue (the main structure, 1925) and the Stokes Wing (1997) command an entire city block between East 3rd and East 6th Streets. The exceptional collection and iconic buildings demonstrate both the institution's importance as a symbol of democracy and—at a more pragmatic level—the library's popularity.

The development of the Cleveland Public Library mirrored a larger movement in the United States: merging practices from tax-funded school-district libraries with early circulating libraries that required fees or membership dues. Heavily laden in classist ideals of democracy, these early public libraries became increasingly popular in the last decade of the 19th century. The advancement of publicly funded libraries also was a response to rapid social changes—particularly industrialization and a tidal wave of immigrants. Thus public lending institutions focused largely on maintaining large collections of educational materials, even though limited operating hours and a closed-stack system limited their accessibility.

Cleveland's first public library was founded in 1869, following the passage of a law providing library funding as part of the Cleveland school system. Known until 1883 as the Public School Library, the new institution on the third floor of a building off West Superior Avenue was estimated to have 5,800 books on its opening day. Visitors to the 20 x 80-foot room had to submit their requests at a main counter. The item would then be retrieved from the stacks by an employee of the library. This system remained in place until 1884, when William Howard Brett was appointed librarian. Under Brett's direction, the institution became a model for progressive, service-oriented libraries throughout the United States, a fact that led to its popular nickname "The People's University."

The notion of accessibility lay at the core of Brett’s innovations. He made all materials in the adult sections available to the public. Cleveland Public Library also became the first large urban library to institute an open-shelf policy. In addition, Brett developed programs and collections for children, instituted a classification system to group books of similar subject matter, opened Cleveland's first branch libraries, created library stations throughout the city, expanded the collection of fiction, and created the city’s first stand-alone children's room. This trailblazing librarian helped secure both the land and funding for the Cleveland Public Library's permanent home in the city's emerging civic district east of Public Square.

And what a home it is. Designed by the prominent architectural firm of Walker & Weeks, the five-story facility was completed in 1925 for about $5 million. It is one of six buildings conforming to the Group Plan, an ambitious 1903 city-planning scheme built around a massive three-segment public park (the Mall) northeast of Public Square. Like most of the Group Plan buildings, the library reflects a Beaux Arts, neoclassical design. Its interior was modeled in a Renaissance style, making ample use of Italian marble. Vaulted ceilings are adorned with paintings of mythological and historical figures, while grand staircases carved in Botticino marble and elaborately decorated passageways invite visitors to explore the library's various departments.

Library functions were sorely tested during the Great Depression, when restrictions on public taxation reduced funding to libraries. Salaries were reduced, staff was let go, and the acquisition of new materials dropped drastically, even as library usage increased by up to 20 percent. Fortunately, Franklin D. Roosevelt's Public Works programs included the Cleveland library: WPA employees made building repairs, cleaned, painted, and even copied musical scores. In the 1930s, the library also was a recipient of federally funded art. In addition to countless prints and paintings, three WPA murals adorn the main Library’s walls to this day. Six additional murals were painted for branch libraries.

The late 1990s were a busy and productive time for the Cleveland Library system. Massive renovations were made to the building. A second structure—named after former U.S. Congressman Louis Stokes—was built in 1997 on the former site of the Cleveland Plain Dealer which, since 1957 had been used by the library as an annex. Focused largely on science and technology, the Stokes Wing has 11 floors totaling 267,000 square feet and more than 30 miles of book shelves for a capacity of 1.3 million books.

The two buildings are connected by an underground corridor below the outdoor Eastman Reading Garden, named after Linda Anne Eastman (1867–1963), the first woman to head a major U.S. city library system and a pioneer in the modern library system. The garden that bears her name was designed by landscape architecture firm OLIN, and includes sculptures by Maya Lin and Tom Otterness. The garden provides space for concerts, garden shows, book displays, and public art exhibits. Think of it as the center of a cultural sandwich—part of a block-long demonstration of Cleveland’s prowess and historic leadership in the arts and humanities.

Today, the Cleveland Public Library operates 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Among the main facility’s special collections are the Mears and Murdock baseball collections, the Cleveland Theater collection, 130,000 volumes of children's material, a 74,000-volume rare book collection, 1.3 million photographs, and the John G. White Chess Collection—believed to be the largest and most comprehensive chess library in the world. In 2009, CPL became the first library in the United States to offer e-book downloads.

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"If you've ever tried to find a cookbook at the Noble library and couldn't, I think we know why," said a Cleveland Heights police spokesman following the 1984 arrest of an unemployed insurance salesman. They nabbed the man, who spent at least eight hours a day at the Noble Library, who generally stole two books, two magazines, and two pamphlets each time. Following a tip, the cops found almost 4,000 library books stashed all over the man's house. When asked why he had not simply checked out the books, the man replied: "I never got a library card."

Unlike the book thief, thousands of patrons have used their library cards at the Noble branch of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library for nearly a century. The first libraries in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights system were installed in or very near school property. The first branch on Noble Road was housed in a small portable building erected in 1923 on the grounds of Noble Elementary School. After just two years, this first building was replaced with a larger portable building specifically designed for library use. It opened on May 9, 1925.

In 1937, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights system built its third permanent building at 2800 Noble Road, just across the street from the old location. The new Noble library building was designed in the Georgian style by noted Cleveland architects Frank Walker and Harry Weeks and cost about $57,000 to construct. The building was expanded in 1963 and renovated in 1994 and 2011.

Over the years the library has hosted reading programs, costume parties, magic shows, children's craft workshops, senior programs, musical performances, and a host of other community events. It continues to be a vital anchor in the Noble neighborhood.

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Harry Potter and his friends would feel right at home in the Coventry Village Library, a brick Tudor Revival and Jacobean-style building that sits on a gentle grassy slope near the intersection of Coventry Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard. The building features many historical details, including a large fireplace, Arts and Crafts tilework, and medieval light fixtures.

Designed by John H. Graham & Co., which also drew plans for Fairmount Presbyterian Church nearly a decade before, the Coventry Village Library opened as the main library for Cleveland Heights in 1926. Built on land originally platted as part of Grant W. Deming's Forest Hill residential allotment, the library, along with Coventry School, were the only non-residential structures in Deming's development.

In 1961, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Libraries system boasted the country's second highest book circulation among comparably sized municipalities. The growth of these two suburbs strained the library's ability to serve public needs, so in 1968, the library board opened a large new main library on Lee Road, demoting Coventry to branch status. The library languished and fell into disrepair after the Lee Road facility opened.

A new chapter in the library's history began with the building's sale in 1974 to the Fairmount Center for Creative and Performing Arts, a non-profit arts organization formed four years earlier in Novelty, Ohio. The Fairmount Center hoped to extend its reach to a larger population and used the library to provide fine arts services to the CH-UH and East Cleveland school systems, and to run dance programs for Cuyahoga Community College and Lake Erie College. The Fairmount Center leased two main-floor rooms back to the library, so Coventry remained open.

Residents expressed growing dissatisfaction as hours and services were pared back. After failing to secure a long-term lease, concerned citizens, rallied by Shirley Hyatt, gathered more than 2,000 signatures on a petition in 1979 to get the library to buy back its building. The library board, however, saw the building as decrepit and hoped to obtain federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding through the city to open a larger library in developer Lewis Zipkin's CoventrYard mall development across Euclid Heights Boulevard. Two factors--city council's refusal to allocate CDBG monies to the library and the Fairmount Center's worsening financial woes--combined to persuade the board to repurchase Coventry Library in 1980.

After an extensive renovation in 1981, Coventry Village Library reopened. Its role as a center for fine arts, however, did not disappear. The Pottery Cooperative of the Heights Guild of Artists and Artisans (later renamed Cleveland Clay Works) purchased ceramic studio equipment, including a kiln, from the Fairmount Center and continued to serve as a pottery-making center. Coventry Village Library has retained its longtime role as a community center, offering musical and theatrical performances (including those for the deaf), poetry readings, and a forum for community meetings and public lectures.

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PEACE Park carries on a piece of the tradition of the closed Coventry School next door. The park originated when neighborhood residents became concerned that the school's playground had seen better days. In 1991, the Coventry PTA formed a committee that got elementary school students to submit drawings of their "dream" playground.

The visioning group in the PTA incorporated as Coventry People Enhancing A Child's Environment, or Coventry PEACE, an acronym that evoked the school's peace theme. Through a series of T-shirt, candy, lemonade, and bake sales, and benefit performances and dinners, the non-profit organization raised the nearly $300,000 needed to create Coventry PEACE Park. The park's construction in October 1993 was in the "New England barnraising" style and proceeded despite torrential downpours.

In 2001, the newly formed nonprofit organization Heights Arts sponsored its first public art project in the park: Coventry Arch. Designed by Barry Gunderson, an art professor at Kenyon College, the 180-degree span of aluminum pipes includes four whimsical, abstract figures (two on each side) reaching across the path to form an arch-like entry to the park. Gunderson's creation, according to his original proposal, is "a symbol of greeting, accommodation, and celebration of differences."

After nearly thirty years, PEACE Park’s well-loved facilities were showing their age. In 2018, Heights Libraries purchased the six-acre PEACE campus. Collaborating with the Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries, it began collecting community input with the goal of renovating PEACE Park as an inclusive, accessible, and environmentally sustainable public space — one that might truly embody Gunderson's arch's symbolism. The project resulted in a completely transformed park that reopened in 2025 with amenities such as a red Cardinal climbing structure, rope swing, large slide, zipline, bandstand, storybook loop trail, educational signage, native plantings, an urban mini-forest, new seating, and brighter lighting.

Home to summer movie nights, winter sledding, after-school playing, and the occasional peace demonstration, PEACE Park remains a beloved green space and a symbol of the neighborhood that outlived the school from which it was born.

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