Building Edgebrook’s library a challenging task as branch celebrates 25 years

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

and BRIAN NADIG

Get ready to party like a bookworm to celebrate 25 years of the Edgebrook Library as it wasn’t easy to bring it to the neighborhood.

Nadig Newspapers looks back at the library’s sometimes-controversial transformation from a simple storefront to a two-story, modern facility.

And while the library has seen a decline in the number of visitors over the years as part of a nationwide trend, with 60,084 patrons in 2024 compared to 134, 395 visitors in 2011, according to statistics from the Chicago Public Library, many bibliophiles in Edgebrook will undoubtedly look forward to celebrating its neighborhood branch with pride. (Even the Washington Library in the South Loop saw its numbers dwindle from 1.7 million visitors in 2011 to  653,728 in 2024.)

The library, 5331 W. Devon Ave., will hold an anniversary event from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, featuring cupcakes from the Sweet Ride Dessert Truck and ice cream from Edgebrook’s Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, music “blasting from a jumbo speaker,” a bounce house for children, a scavenger hunt, a raffle with prizes and a guest book to share memories. Registration recommended.

But the road to the $5 million branch was not always filled with borrowing books, renewing library cards, yoga classes, knitting circles, plant and seed swaps, cookbook discussions and programs for adults and kids.

It was mired in years of planning and resident bickering, which is common on the Northwest Side and Chicago in general.

The dedication ceremony was held Thursday, Aug. 24, 2000. Edgebrook previously had a 3,500-square-foot storefront library at 5426 W. Devon Ave.

Then-mayor Richard Daley said at the dedication that the storefront was inadequate and failed to meet the community’s needs and that a new modern building would attract residents from neighboring communities.

The storefront library closed about two months earlier in 2000, as its 30,000 books needed to be packaged and moved to the new library, which was estimated to have space for 50,000 books. The storefront library served the neighborhood for decades and it may have even moved storefronts at some point in time, sources said.

A debate became heated in the mid-1990s as to where the facility should be built in the first place— the top choices were Edgebrook Park or the Edgebrook or Sauganash business districts, the latter of which likely meant displacing businesses. Some residents pushed for the park in part because they wanted a driveway in front of the library, where they could drop off and pick up their children for events.

“I fail to equate the loss of a baseball diamond with the loss of homes and businesses,” one resident said at a community meeting in 1997. One business owner affected by the project said he was disheartened “to hear ‘Let’s sacrifice them so we can have a library.’ I’d hate to be in a lifeboat with them.” The city told residents it would pay fair market value and relocation expenses to half-dozen businesses and several apartments affected by the library project. “Unfortunately someone has to be displaced,” another resident said in 1997.

Ultimately the park was ruled out because of the possible removal of the baseball diamond and leaving  less room for possible future expansion of the adjacent Edgebrook School, whose local enrollment was increasing.

“Mark my words. Edgebrook School will have an addition,” then-45th Ward alderman Patrick Levar said at another contentious community meeting. “I think we should set the park district land aside for that.” The school eventually received an addition by 2012.

“After (the park) was out, we just had to face reality” that some business could be forced to close or relocate, Edgebrook Community Association development director Sandra Laase said at the time.

She added that there was strong support to keep the library in Edgebrook rather than relocate to Sauganash, where fewer businesses might have been displaced. The targeted site in Edgebrook included medical offices and apartments.

Some residents called for a traffic signal at the Devon-Minnehaha intersection to assist children crossing Devon to the library. None was ever installed. Edgebrook School’s new early learning branch at 5320-30 W. Devon Ave. opened across from the library in 2023. School officials and parents have been raising concerns about that crosswalk again ever since. The “City that Works” indeed.

“If we need a stoplight, damn it, we’ll get a stoplight,” Levar told residents. “Do you think they’re going to build a $5 million library so some kid can get killed crossing the street?”

Others complained that the parking lot, with about 15 spaces, would be too small for the 15,500-square-foot library, which would include a second-floor auditorium with a capacity of 128.

Initially the city was going to acquire only the property at 5321-25 W. Devon Ave., but the same person owned the building at 5319 W. Devon Ave. and wanted to sell both sites. The additional land reportedly allowed for a larger garden and a little more parking.

“I encourage all parents and grandparents to get involved with their children,” Daley said at the dedication. “This (library) represents opportunities for youngsters to get to know one another.”

Then-Secretary of State Jesse White said that education is key in raising children and that parents must involve themselves in their children’s lives so they can reap the benefits of a quality education.

“When you’re involved, young people will work a lot harder,” White said at the 2000 dedication. “A library is a storehouse of knowledge where people can come to learn.”

Editor’s note: The Chicago Public Library did not return messages requesting a comment about the anniversary celebration and its significance to the neighborhood.

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