Overview

The Sumner Library is one of the first libraries in the city, built to serve the Jewish community in north Minneapolis. 

• Location: 611 Van White Memorial Boulevard 
• Neighborhood: Near North

Guidelines

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Historic profile

The Sumner Library is one of the first libraries in the city, built to serve the Jewish community in north Minneapolis. The library was built in 1915 with funds from the Carnegie Corporation.  

Local architect Cecil Bayless Chapman designed it in the Tudor Revival style. This style stood out in a working-class neighborhood. It is a one-and-a-half-story brick building. Two gabled roof wings and a flat-roofed polygonal tower in the center form the layout. The interior has vaulted ceilings, arched openings, and oak details. The library relocated 100 feet north in 1938 for the construction of the new Olson Memorial Highway. Two large additions have been added to the original library layout. 

The Sumner Library is one of many small library branches that furthered educational and cultural services in the city. It served the area's large Jewish population and later African American residents. The city’s entire Yiddish and Hebrew collections were housed there. By the mid-1940s, the library also held Finnish, Russian, and African American collections. The library added services to support the immigrant community, such as language classes. 

Gratia Alta Countryman was head librarian when the Sumner Library was built. She developed 13 neighborhood branch libraries during her tenure from 1904 to 1936. She was the first female librarian in the country for a city this large. Her ability to secure funding more than quadrupled the library's budget. Countryman was a founding member of the American Library Association. 

The Sumner Library still serves northwest Minneapolis communities today.