Metropolitan history

The building was completed by late summer of 1901 and the grand opening gala was held on August 29.

In 1909 the building was expanded after receiving an additional $35,000 from Carnegie and $4,800 from the city.

Douglas write his father’s partner, Andrew Carnegie, for a library grant. (Carnegie provided funding for libraries all across America and would eventually build 1681 libraries in 1412 towns by 1923.

In 1945, the Friends of the Library association was formed, largely because citizens had become concerned that a library built to serve 10,000 people could not adequately serve 250,000 as it was now expected to do.

The new main library was built on the site of the old one and was opened in 1954.

Oklahoma City: Fidelity Bank, 1974.

Founded in 1975 by Christopher Gray, the Office for Metropolitan History provides research on New York City buildings and embraces a synthetic approach to historical data, bringing together disparate sources in individual collections.

In 1977 a new name – Metropolitan Library System – was selected to better reflect our mission.

Changing New York (Dover Publications, 1992; research by Raymond Fike)

The Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon Day by Day (with David Stravitz; Princeton Architectural Press, 2002; research by Suzanne Braley)