🏢 Multnomah County Library — Portland, Oregon

Sellwood-Moreland Library

Traceable to a 1905 reading room, Sellwood-Moreland was the first public library in Multnomah County outside downtown Portland, and today it occupies a distinctive mixed-use building shared with shops and condominiums in Southeast Portland.

📖 About Sellwood-Moreland Library

Sellwood-Moreland Library began in 1905 as the Sellwood Reading Room, stocked with just 150 books from the Portland Library Association, making it the first public library in Multnomah County apart from the downtown main library. Its collection grew to about 1,000 volumes by 1907, when it became the Sellwood Branch Library. Over the following decades the branch moved several times through the Sellwood neighborhood, and in 1965 it settled into a purpose-built 2,204-square-foot building at SE Milwaukie Avenue and Lexington, designed by architect Loyal Lang. By the 1990s that building was badly overcrowded, holding more than 31,000 items in a space designed for around 6,500. On February 12, 2002 the branch moved to its current home, a contemporary mixed-use building at SE 13th Avenue and Bidwell Street that shares its structure with commercial space and residential condominiums. In 2025 the library received interior renovations funded by the 2020 building bond. It remains open seven days a week on regular hours.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Dates to a 1905 reading room — the first public library in Multnomah County outside downtown Portland
• Current home, opened February 12, 2002, is a mixed-use building shared with shops and condominiums
• Earlier 1965 branch, designed by architect Loyal Lang, became severely overcrowded before the move
• Received interior renovations in 2025 funded by the county's 2020 building bond

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