City Library

Located near the intersection of Douglas Avenue and Main Street in 1878, the Wichita City Library maintained offices and a workroom in Baldwin's Photograph Gallery. From their one room beginnings, Wichita welcomed a $75,000 Carnegie gift for the Wichita City Library, opened in 1915. The city furnished the site just immediately south of City Hall and funds for maintenance and books. The second floor was adorned by pioneer and Indian murals and stained glass sunflower windows. The Librarian at that time was Julius Lucht (1915 - 1925), under his direction the facility was organized into departments. During the early 1920's, Lucht pioneered the distribution of books to outlying areas with a "book-mobile" (a adapted Model "T").
When the library moved across the street in 1967 the building was remodeled for municipal courts. The current Library opened on March 13, 1967.