Hennepin County Library has begun the process of decommissioning Franklin Library, the 112-year-old Carnegie building that anchors south Minneapolis’s American Indian Cultural Corridor and serves as one of the system’s smallest yet most heavily trafficked branches. County officials plan to move library operations from the historic structure at 1314 E. Franklin Ave. to a new location, though no site or budget has been finalized.
The news, first reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune, has alarmed patrons and officials who see Franklin as a lifeline for the urban Indian community of south Minneapolis. County Commissioner Angela Conley, who represents the district where the library sits, said constituents have already reached out to her about what will happen to their access to the branch. She said the community deserves a welcoming space for all, and she wants the current library building given to the American Indian community.
Franklin Library opened in 1914, making it Minneapolis’s oldest surviving Carnegie library and the first of four such buildings funded in the city through industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who bankrolled more than 1,600 libraries nationwide. Three of Minneapolis’s four Carnegie libraries remain standing; the fourth, a Carnegie building that once served Northeast Minneapolis, was demolished in 1970 and replaced by the current Northeast Library.
A Cramped Building Serving an Outsized Role
Hennepin County administrators have decided that keeping the existing Franklin building is not an option, according to the Star Tribune’s reporting. A request for proposals circulated by the county states that previous analysis already ruled out renovating and reusing the current structure. The building needs significant maintenance, including a roof replacement, and officials say it cannot realistically be expanded because it is hemmed in by neighbors the county does not want to displace — including an apartment building and offices belonging to multiple Indian tribes…