The original Moorhead Public Library building

Clay County Histories 

Markus Krueger | Program Director HCSCC

markus.krueger@hcsmuseum.org

It was around this time of year in 1962 when the Moorhead Public Library moved from its original building to its second building – the building that we are saying goodbye to now. I still hear stories about that move 64 years later. Many local people in their 70-80s were the kids who physically carried the books from one library to the other.

The original Moorhead Public Library was built in 1906 at the corner of Main Avenue and 6th Street, where Rigels Appliance Store is today. It was a beautiful Carnegie library building with columns, huge windows, and a dome. But half a century after it was built, it was too small for our growing town. By 1960, Moorhead had five times the population, and nine times the number of library material as it had in 1906. When Bookmobile service began in 1949, the Moorhead Public Library served everyone in Clay County. Shelves were added in every conceivable place, including behind doors and in front of windows. Patrons had to scale a six-foot ladder to reach the books on the upper shelves. Moorhead needed a new library.

The current Moorhead Public Library building was finished just as 1961 turned to 1962. It was directly across 6th Street from the old library. There were tens of thousands of books to move, hundreds of audio records, reel-to-reel films (Moorhead was one of the first libraries in the region to lend out movies), and you could even check out artwork to hang on your wall at home. How would they move it all? Volunteers. Mostly kids.

On December 30, 1961, a group of 85 volunteers came to help. Many were boy scouts or campfire girls. Librarians in the old building methodically took books off the shelves downstairs and handed them through a basement window to the volunteers outside. The kids took about five books in their arms and walked across the street to the new library. They took care to stay in line so the books would remain in the correct order when they handed them off to the librarians to put on the new shelves. They moved thousands of books that day, but it was also a trial run to see if this process would work. It did, so decided to use the same system on a larger scale to move the rest.

The big move was held on February 23 and 24, 1962. The Forum put out the call on January 24: “If you can carry about five books at a time for about 200 feet and would like to help, contact the library.” Around a thousand people showed up. “A solid line of youngsters, with adult guidance, moved quickly from the old to the new library” The Forum reported the next day. “When it was all over, some 47,000 volumes had been transferred and put in their correct places in the gleaming new library.” I have it on good authority (I am the husband of current library director Megan Sorenson Krueger) that this time around, professional movers will transport the books the two blocks to our gleaming new Moorhead Public Library on Center Avenue and 5th Street.

Were you one of those kids who moved the library books in 1962? Or do you have other memories to share about the library? We want to hear them. On February 5 from 2-5pm the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County will be at the Moorhead Public Library for a History Harvest to record your library stories. We also whipped up some panels showing the history of our town’s library. The Friends of the Moorhead Public Library will hold a mini book sale and put out treats. Come bid farewell to a beautiful building that served Moorhead well for 64 years.