Library and High Street Belfast Me. 319 9-29-05-5

Library and High Street Belfast Me. 319 9-29-05-5

"Library and High Street Belfast Me. 319 9-29-05-5" Street Scene, Buildings, Library, Lamp, People, Horses, Carriages Paul Hazeltine, who died in 1878, left a bequest of $20,000.00 (upon the death of his wife in 1884) to the City of Belfast for the purpose of constructing a library which would forever be free to the inhabitants of said city. To this purpose the city purchased a lot at the corner of Miller and High streets from Robert Miller, one of Belfast's earliest settlers. The homestead on that property, which was built in 1792 and the oldest in the city was sold for $70.00 and moved to Bridge Street. A committee consisting of Cyrus Hall, Charles Rogers and Albert Mudgett, in accordance with plans drawn up by Julius Munchwitz of New York let a contract in the sum of $8775.00 to James Pottle. Construction was completed in 1887. The building is constructed of both red and gray granite with room heights of nineteen feet. The book room was estimated to have a capacity of 14,000 volumes. The residual money from the bequest with an added bequest from Nancy Green brought the sum to just over $40,000.00. Both beqest allowed only income from this to be expended, leaving the principle intact. An act was passed which created a board of 5 trustees to oversee the spending. Among these was historian Joseph Williamson. Unlike the rest of the political appointees in the city, the first librarian was a woman Elizabeth Pond, It was not untill 99 years later that first man filled the position. Between construction and 1901, and average of 20,000 books were loaned out during each year. This was from an inventory of 2843 volumes (in 1888) to 10,377 (in 1901). Ever since its establishment, foresighted members of the community have provided the funds needed to meet the changing needs of the Belfast community: the Gammans Room was added in 1932, the third floor Special Collections in 1977, and the Abbott Auditorium in 1985. NOTE: This image represents the library in it's pre-1932 layout (When the Gammans Reading Room was added behind the main building shown here). The dome over the main entrance was removed and the present roofline constructed sometime before May 27, 1932 (dated photo showing the new roof). In all likelihood, the roof changed during the period of construction of the Gammans Reading Room. NOTE (street light): Because carbon filament lamp bulbs gave off insufficient light for street lighting, early street lights were carbon arc lamps that ran on high voltage "series" type circuits. Carbon arc lamps produced the most light at the time, but they were noisy, harsh and required constant maintenance. An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc. The lamp consists of two electrodes, made from carbon, which are separated by a gas. In a carbon arc lamp, the electrodes are carbon rods in free air. To ignite the lamp, the rods are touched together, thus allowing a relatively low voltage to strike the arc. The rods are then slowly drawn apart, and electric current heats and maintains an arc across the gap. The tips of the carbon rods are heated to incandescence, creating light. The rods are slowly burnt away in use, and the distance between them needs to be regularly adjusted in order to maintain the arc. Many ingenious mechanisms were invented to affect this automatically, mostly based on solenoids. In one of the simplest.