Pierre Bottineau Library (formerly Pierre Bottineau Community Library) is a branch library located in northeast

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, United States. It was named for

Pierre Bottineau Pierre Bottineau (January 1, 1817 – July 26, 1895) was a Minnesota frontiersman.'Compendium of History and Biography of Central and Northern Minnesota,' G. A. Ogle & Company: 1904, Biographical Sketch of Pierre Bottineau, pg. 144 Known as ...

, a prominent Minnesota frontiersman and is one of 41 libraries in the

Hennepin County Library System Hennepin County Library is a public library system serving Hennepin County, Minnesota, US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban Minneapolis Public Library and suburban Hennepin County Library on ...

. The library moved to its current location at the historic Grain Belt campus in 2003. The facility combines two historic buildings, the 1893 Wagon Shed and the 1913 Millwright Shop, with an addition designed by RSP Architects.

History

The

Northeast Minneapolis Northeast is a defined community in the U.S. city of Minneapolis that is composed of 13 smaller neighborhoods whose street addresses end in "NE". Unofficially it also includes the neighborhoods of the University community which have "NE" addre ...

area had been served by the

Minneapolis Public Library The Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) was a library system that served the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Library Board by an amendment to the Minneapolis ...

since 1913. The first library in the neighborhood was housed at Sheridan Junior High School; later, the library moved to the field house at Logan Park where it went by the name Logan Park Library. Pierre Bottineau's next incarnation was housed in a rented space at 1224 Northeast 2nd Street where it resided beginning in 1957. As of 2000, not only was it the system's only rented space but it was also the smallest at less than half the size of the lobby of the 1961 downtown

Minneapolis Central Library Minneapolis Central Library, a library in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is the largest library of the Hennepin County Library public library system. It bills itself as having "the third largest per capita public library collecti ...

. As Pierre Bottineau's capacity was legally set at only 40 occupants, a sign on the door would inform potential patrons that "The library is now full." The Grain Belt location is six times the size of Pierre Bottineau's previous home and was proposed in 2000 by the Minneapolis Library Board. Support from the Minnesota Historical Society was necessary to proceed with renovations on the site as the Historical Society controlled the $500,000 earmarked for work on the Grain Belt site that the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenn ...

had approved five years before. The total project cost was estimated at $2.5 million of which the Library Board was to pay half. Pierre Bottineau's move to the Grain Belt building was supported by the Sheridan Neighborhood Association and the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, the latter of which sought a grant to refurbish a next-door fountain and park. Work on the new facility began in 2002 with costs totaling $3.1 million. Emphasis in the library was placed on meeting the needs of children as the old Pierre Bottineau received heavy use from school-age youths. Pierre Bottineau opened May 31, 2003. Budget woes caused the Minneapolis Public Library to temporarily close three different branches in part due to a loss of local government aid in early 2007. A merger with the Hennepin County Libraries was approved by both systems' boards along with the

Minneapolis City Council The Minneapolis City Council is the lawmaking body of Minneapolis. It consists of 13 members, elected from separate wards to four-year terms, via a ranked-choice method. The council structure has been in place since the 1950s. In recent elections ...

, and Pierre Bottineau reopened at 10 am on January 2, 2008, as a Hennepin County Library.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Pierre Bottineau Library
Pierre Bottineau Library
Minneapolis Public Library Hennepin County Library Library buildings completed in 2002 2002 establishments in Minnesota Libraries in Minnesota