🏢 Chicago Public Library — Chicago, Illinois

Rogers Park Branch

Born from a women's book club in 1894 and rebuilt for the new millennium, this far-North-Side branch pairs commissioned public art with collections that speak the many languages of one of Chicago's most diverse neighborhoods.

📖 About Rogers Park Branch

The Rogers Park Branch traces its roots to 1894, when members of the Rogers Park Women's Club established a library on Clark Street, donating books from their own shelves and serving as its first volunteer librarians. More than a century later, the Chicago Public Library dedicated the current building at 6907 North Clark Street on June 8, 1999, giving the long-running branch a modern home in the heart of one of the city's most ethnically diverse communities. Reflecting that mix of neighbors, the branch keeps circulating collections in Russian and Spanish alongside large-print materials for readers who need them. Two works commissioned through Chicago's Percent for Art program are on permanent display: Al Tyler's "Millennium Paintings" and "The Pansies," a sculptural installation by Jo Hormuth. The branch also lends fishing poles for use along the nearby lakefront and runs technology tutoring and ESL conversation groups for its multilingual patrons.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Founded in 1894 by the Rogers Park Women's Club, who donated the first books and staffed it as volunteers
• Displays two Percent-for-Art commissions: Al Tyler's "Millennium Paintings" and Jo Hormuth's sculpture "The Pansies"
• Circulating collections in Russian and Spanish serving one of Chicago's most diverse neighborhoods
• Lends fishing poles for use along the nearby Lake Michigan shoreline

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