The Larkin Street plaza in front of the Main Public Library will be bursting with activity this coming Monday afternoon, as the city celebrates the library's 20th anniversary in its modern home at 100 Larkin St.
The celebration will kick off at 12:30pm with a performance by Mariachi Nueva Generacion. Next, BANDALOOP will rappel its troupe of internationally-renowned aerial dancers from the building's roof, to perform on its facade. Following remarks about the library's 20th anniversary, Cheer San Francisco will then perform, commemorative cookies will be doled out and a book sale hosted by Friends of the Library will open.
If 20 sounds oddly young for the city's main branch, that's because the Main Public Library has relocated multiple times since its 1879 inception on Bush Street. Its first move, in 1888, brought it to City Hall, which was then destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. (Might we remind you that this same city hall was built atop a graveyard?)
Photo: California State Library via FoundSF
After the earthquake, the branch temporarily operated at Hayes and Franklin, until a new library was completed in 1917 at 200 Larkin—where the Asian Art Museum now resides. By 1943, the Main Public Library had reached capacity, but due to various delays, construction on the current location at 100 Larkin St. didn't break ground until 1992.
Monday's celebration commemorates the day the modern facility at 100 Larkin opened to the public—April 18th, 1996.
For an even more in-depth look at the earliest days of San Francisco's public library system, head over to FoundSF.
