The Samuel T. Busey Memorial Library

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Mary E. Busey

The Busey Donation

American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie withdrew his funding for Urbana’s library in June 1914, but The Urbana Free Library Building Committee refused to abandon the project. They spent two years saving money from the two-mill tax and collecting donations to keep it alive. In October 1916, the committee announced plans to go forward with the project in the spring. In early January, they determined that the $40,000 needed to build the library could be raised through subscriptions and a bond issue from the city. Fortunately, the committee did not need to resort to these measures. On January 29, 1917, Mary E. Busey informed her grandson and library board member Paul G. Busey to report to the board that she would donate $35,000 for the new building in honor of her late husband Samuel T. Busey. Her gift allowed the library building committee to move forward with the library project immediately. In February, Joseph W. Royer was appointed architect for the building and the construction contract was awarded to A.W. Stoolman in April.

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Grandma Goodrich’s home, 201 W. Elm St., on the corner of Race and Elm Streets. The present site of the library. The tree on the right sports wooden, hand-lettered street signs.

Building the Library

The cornerstone for The Samuel T. Busey Memorial Library was laid on July 23, 1917. Speeches were given by Urbana Mayor C.W. Richards and library board members Edmund James and George Bennett. A bronze box of various local materials related to the library building and community was laid in the cornerstone and construction began. In January 1918, the library reached out to the community for book donations to fill the new library. In March, the library experienced a minor setback when one-third of the new furniture arrived destroyed due to poor handling. The library contacted the manufacturer and had new furniture sent immediately. Work proceeded swiftly and the committee planned an opening ceremony for early July.

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Champaign Daily News, July 7, 1918

Opening Day

The Samuel T. Busey Memorial Library opened on Monday, July 8, 1918. For the opening reception, library board members decorated the interior of the building with ferns and displayed flags of allied nations. They also offered a special edition of the Association of Commerce bulletin, which contained a history of the library and description of the new services and selection offered. Mary E. Busey was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the Social Science Club in honor of her donation. Music was furnished for the event and the local Boy Scouts of America patrolled the building. The library was open from 2-5 pm and 7-9 pm on opening day and saw approximately 125 visitors. The Opening Day celebration followed into the next day, with the library open from 7-9 pm and in the afternoon exclusively for children. The Samuel T. Busey Memorial Library officially opened for regular hours on July 10. Library hours were from 2-9 pm Monday through Saturday and 2-5 pm on Sunday.

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The Urbana Free Library, April 1949. Its address then was 203 S. Race Street. The Green Street entrance was added as part of the 2005 expansion.

The Building

The building was designed in a Classical Revival style. Dimensions for the building measured 103 feet 6 inches north and south, by 97 feet east and west. The building was made as fireproof as possible with concrete and Bedford stone terraces on the north and east parts of the building. Patrons entered the library through bronze doors flanked by Doric columns. The main floor was raised above ground level and the main Memorial Room was finished with pink Tennessee marble on the floors and walls along with a domed roof. South of the main room was the magazine room, children’s room, and cataloging room. North of the main room was the general reading room and reference room. Finally, the book stacks lay to the west of the Memorial Room. The lower floor included a large lecture room, book stacks, an unpacking room, storage rooms, and the English room, which was devoted to the Champaign County Historical Society. The building received an addition and renovation in 1975. In 2005, it went through a second renovation and expansion.

The Samuel T. Busey Memorial Library