Martinez Library is a historic

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

located in downtown

Martinez, California Martinez ( Spanish: ''Martínez'') is a city and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strait, the city's popu ...

that is part of the

Contra Costa County Library The Contra Costa County Library is the public library system in Contra Costa County, California, United States. There are 26 community libraries including the NRHP-listed Martinez Library, access to electronic information via a website, over 45 ...

system.

History

Starting in the Fall of 1883, the Esse Quam Videre Club organized to establish a free reading room. Two years later in 1885 the Martinez Free Reading Room and Library Association was formed, operating out of a building owned by Dr. John Strentzel who charged nothing to the Association. Reading at the location was free, but the Association charged dues of 25 cents a month for the privilege to borrow books. In 1896 Mrs. John Strentzel and her daughter Louisa Strentzel Muir, wife of

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...

, donated land and a new library was built by popular subscription for . After more than 40 years at that location, voters passed a bond issue to fund a new library building. The new building was designed in an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style and completed in 1941. In November 2008 Measure H was passed narrowly by voters in the city of Martinez to renovate and expand the library. The bond specified a designated children's area, youth recreational opportunities, and improving disabled access. The renovation work started in November 2010 and the library continued operating for 25 hours per week in a temporary location in the old train depot near

Martinez station Martinez station is an Amtrak passenger train station in Martinez, California, United States. Located at the west end of downtown Martinez, the station has one side platform and one island platform, which serve three of the four tracks of the Un ...

. The library continued operating in the interim Depot Library until when it closed to transition back to the renovated building. The Martinez Library held the Grand Reopening on Saturday August 20, 2011 with over 1000 visitors entering the library that day. New self-service stations were installed along with new furniture and additional computers.

Modern

The Martinez Library offers a variety of activities and resources for their patrons. Activities vary from story time and lego workshops for children to book clubs for adults. The library actively seeks to expose patrons to other cultures and has been hosting

Chinese Lunar New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

celebration since .

Lion dance F Lion dance () is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion dance is usually performed during the Chinese New ...

and other Chinese cultural traditions have been showcased along with crafts. Lunches were provided to children and teens three days a week in the summer as part of the California Summer Meal Coalition. Many of the families that visited for the program had not been to the library before and had been unaware of the services offered beyond book lending. Library usage increased with the implementation of the program.

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* {{Authority control National Register of Historic Places in Contra Costa County, California Martinez, California Art Deco architecture in California Library buildings completed in 1941 Link+ libraries 1941 establishments in California

History

Modern

Gallery

See also

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External links