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The Trenton library building is an example of the popular Beaux-Arts design popular during the period that has also been dubbed the American Renaissance.

As “Public Art in New Jersey” author Thomas C. Folk notes, the style, “which dominated much of American artistic and intellectual life from the 1870s to the 1920s, existed as both a reality and a mental construct. Not specifically a style or a movement in the commonly accepted art historical sense of those terms, the American Renaissance was more a mood, or a spirit, or a state of mind.”

In addition to encompassing “many diverse idioms of painting, architecture, and sculpture,” the style also “had a broad base of support with many politicians, financiers, businessmen, academics, and men and women of the American middle class. As an idea or mental concept, the American Renaissance held both nationalistic and cosmopolitan ideals and looked to the past and the future.”

The building also hits another historic note for what it is not. As a library history reports, “Contrary to popular belief, the new library was not a Carnegie Library. Between 1883 and 1929, businessman Andrew Carn- egie donated funds to construct over 2,500 libraries, but certain cities like Trenton and Newark felt that accepting this money would show that they were unable to provide for themselves.”

The current Lawrence Library is located in a building that was formerly a massive trucking terminal, but its history goes back to 1960, when a group of township residents gathered more than 1,600 signatures on a petition demanding a branch library.

According to Lawrence historian Dennis Waters, the residents’ request was finally approved in 1961, and that year, the Lawrence branch opened in a small 1,600-squarefoot space at the rear of Dunham’s department store in the newly-opened Lawrence Shopping Center. It was an awkward location because it was not accessible from the main parking lot in front.

For the next 20 years, the Lawrence branch remained at the shopping center location, though it moved several times and gradually increased in size.

As time wore on, Lawrence residents grew increasingly unhappy with the size and services offered by the library.

In 1978 the Lawrence Township Library Committee commissioned a report to study the feasibility of leaving the county system and establishing a township-operated municipal library, as Hopewell Township had recently done. The report advised against leaving the county system, and the Library Committee accepted its recommendation.

However, the Mercer County Library System recognized that it needed a major upgrade, so during the period from 1979 to 1982 it began planning an expansion that would bring new library buildings to all of its member municipalities.

In particular, it planned a facility in Lawrence that would serve as the system’s headquarters and include a much-enlarged reference department. Financing was provided by the Mercer County Improvement Authority through a $10 million bond issue.

The site chosen for the Lawrence Headquarters Branch was 12 acres at the corner of Darrah Lane and Brunswick Pike. The site contained an abandoned trucking terminal that was originally built in 1953 for Riss Brothers, at that time one of the largest trucking companies in the eastern United States.

The trucking terminal was very well constructed, so it was decided to renovate it rather than tear it down and start over. Renovation began in the spring of 1983 and on April 7 of the following year it opened.

At more than 40,000 square feet, the branch was five times the size of the branch in the shopping center that it replaced, although some of that space was used by the county system for its headquarters, which moved from Ewing.

In 1994 the MCIA borrowed $15 million to fund another upgrade of the library system, including a 17,000-square -foot expansion at the rear and the west end of the existing building, providing an expanded reference section, additional community meeting rooms, and new offices for the headquarters staff, whose former offices became the fiction department “downstairs.”

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The Hopewell Public Library at 13 East Broad Street is housed in the red brick building that once upon a time had been the Hopewell National Bank.

While the current Hopewell library company was founded in 1914, there had been some sort of book or material lending system established as far back as 1802. According to a history compiled by the Hopewell Library, that was when Pennington resident Archilles Wilson ran a library that provided books for Hopewell residents.

The report indicates that a Hopewell Library Company had an organized catalog in 1804 and that it was incorporated twice in 1806, first as the Hopewell Library Company, then as the Hopewell Columbian Library Company a week later. The name change was to indicate the library’s location in the Columbian section of the township, now Hopewell Borough.

While it is unclear what happened to that company, it is clear that other efforts continued to supply residents with books and information. That included the Mrs. M. A. Carter, Library and Fancy Goods company, operating in 1887 on the corner of East Broad Street and Seminary Avenue, and circulating and traveling libraries organized by the Grange.

Today’s Hopewell Public Library was established by members of the socially minded Roundabout Club and opened in a former harness shop on West Broad Street. A few years later it moved to the Fireman’s Hall. A public referendum turned it into a municipal and publicly funded library.

According its own documents, “The library was extraordinarily popular: As of October 1916, with a Borough population of 1,200, the library had 680 active patrons and owned more than 1,300 books, and had circulated 10,127 books over the past year. The library quickly outgrew its new space and moved to 28 East Broad Street in 1924 and shared this new space with the Hopewell Museum.”

In 1964 the library moved across the street to the former National Bank building.

Opened in 1890, it is a simple, solid, yet homey two-floor structure — nothing like the American Renaissance-inspired banks that look like Greek temples.Here one gets the old-fashioned type of library experience of being greeted by librarians at a desk in front of a wall lined with volumes that chronicle the community.

Although there are sections that show that it was a bank — it has a vault, for example — the building’s small rooms make visiting the library feel like taking a step back in time.

The New Jersey State Library in the capitol complex in Trenton has a long and fascinating history and a facility shaped by an important design movement.

The library began with a collection of documents used by legislators when New Jersey was an English colony and before Trenton became the state’s capital in 1790.

An actual library started in 1796 when the State of New Jersey assigned the house clerk with the responsibility of maintaining the documents, pamphlets, newspapers, and books used by both the senate and assembly.

As the collection grew, so did the effort to maintain it, and a fulltime librarian was appointed in 1822. By 1883 the library had more than 30,000 volumes and occupied the southern wing of the capitol building — designed originally by Philadelphiabased architect Jonathan Doane, whose colonial and federal design had American Renaissance-flavored modifications and expansions by John Notman (1845), Samuel Sloan (1871), and Lewis Broome, 1889.

The library moved in 1929 to a new art deco-influenced New Jersey State House Annex building, which also housed the State Museum.

The library got its own building when the State of New Jersey created the Capitol Complex during the post-war boom in late 1950s and early 1960s.

The building was designed by Frank Grad & Sons, a Newark-based company noted as one of the leaders in modernist government and corporate architecture.

The antithesis of American Renaissance or embellishments that connected to a particular nation or era, Grad’s approach was influenced by the international style’s emphasis on no-frills simplicity and clean lines — as demonstrated by the open spaces, windows, and sleek furniture.

While this modern style is no longer seen as modern, it — like all the buildings noted — offers both the opportunity to find a book as well as walk into history.

MCLS adult virtual programs for February

The following are virtual programs scheduled to be held during the month of February by the Mercer County Library System. E-mail hopeprogs@mcl.org to register to receive a link to the program.

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Creative Writing Workshop for Adults. 7 p.m.

Also Feb. 21. Join us virtually for an opportunity to share original creative writing of all kinds in a supportive, group environment. Facilitated by Chip McAuley, poet and Hickory Corner librarian, this ongoing workshop is for everyone who enjoys working with words. We will share work, discuss writing techniques, give supportive feedback, read aloud and more in this all-in-one creativity hub.

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Freedom to All: New Jersey’s African-American Civil War Soldiers. 7 p.m. Author and historian, Joseph G. Bilby discusses his book, Freedom to All, which explores the contributions of New Jersey’s African-American Civil War soldiers. An often overlooked subject, Mr. Bilby expands on the involvement and historical impact of almost 3,000 New Jersey African-Americans in the Union army and navy.

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Teen Advisory Board. 3:30 p.m. All teens are welcome to join! Come be a part of the MCLS Teen Advisory Board. There are opportunities to enhance your leadership skills, earn community service hours, help run library programs, and write book reviews. New members always welcome!

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ESL Conversation Group for Adults. Also Feb. 28. 10 a.m. If you already know some English and want to improve your speaking and comprehension skills, please join librarian Elka Frankel for some practice sharing your thoughts and ideas about all kinds of things with others in the group. We’ll also cover vocabulary, idioms and grammar relevant to our discussions. Bring your questions too!

See LIBRARy EVENTS, Page 6