The Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, and is a location of the

Kenosha Public Library The Kenosha Public Library (KPL) is the public library serving the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Kenosha, United States. It is the resource library for the Kenosha County Library System (KCLS), of which it is a member. Governance The KPL is gover ...

(KPL), which is part of the Kenosha County Library System (KCLS) The Simmons Memorial Library was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1974, and was the first formal location for KPL.

History

The Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library was the first public building in the City Park district in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. S ...

. Upon its completion,

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporate ...

became known as Library Park.

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...

designed the Neoclassical library while

Ossian Cole Simonds Ossian Cole Simonds (November 11, 1855 – November 20, 1931), often known as O. C. Simonds, was an American landscape designer. He preferred the term 'landscape gardener' to that of 'landscape architect'. A number of Simonds' works are listed o ...

developed the landscaping plan. Former Kenosha mayor

Zalmon G. Simmons Zalmon Gilbert Simmons Sr. (September 10, 1828February 11, 1910) was an American businessman, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. In business, Simmons was initially successful as an investor and officer in the Wisconsin State Telegraph Company, w ...

donated $150,000 for the building's construction on the condition that it be named in honor for his deceased son. The city agreed, and the library opened to the public on May 30, 1900. With As the city's first public library building, Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library greatly increased the volumes of literature available to the citizens of Kenosha. By the mid-1910s, the library had 124,368 volumes and sought to expand with a branch library. The building was recognized by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

with a listing on the

on December 17, 1974. When the Library Park Historic District was created in 1988, the library was listed as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

. There are rumors of the library being haunted by a female ghost and a legend of a secret tomb in the library.

Services

Collections

The Simmons Library's collection count is over 13,000 items, has access to over 275,000 items via the other Kenosha Public Library locations, and over 2 million items through the partnership with libraries in Racine County, Walworth County, and Rock County.

Technology

The Simmons Library technology services include public access computers and free wireless internet access throughout the library. The Library provides access to

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

s, music, movies, and other electronic collections. The library provides access to a color printer & copier for a fee. Printing at the library uses a secure release station to help protect patron privacy, with a secondary printer located in the Children's Room. A fax machine is also available for public use, with a 3D printer available by request from the Southwest Library. The library operates a Book Break telephone hotline during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, which reads stories to children. The library system uses

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

pads on all library materials where users only need to place the book on a table and check out occurs without scanning.

References

External links