Every building has its story. This month, Seattle’s Public Library’s Broadway Branch will celebrate its up and down community-led tale—one which started as a community hope and a land purchase for a wonderful new facility, got diverted for a long-since-forgotten sports team, and was pulled back on track by protest and persistence. In other words, the branch’s history fits Seattle style to a T.
Of course, all that was going more than 50 years ago, when Diana Ross topped the pop music charts and the nation was gearing up for its bicentennial year.
Broadview Branch of Seattle Public Library (Image: Courtesy SPL)
Join the celebration
The latter is why a 1970s playlist will be the groove at least one of the branch’s 50th anniversary celebration events taking place next week:
The “Stacks o’ Sound! Listening & Games Party, 1975-76” will be held Thursday evening, Jan. 22, from 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m at the Broadview Branch (located Greenwood Avenue North and North 130th Street). It’s “throwback Thursday” on steroids a visitors young and old make the musical trip back to the branch’s first years with hits from groups like Wings, Boston, Heart, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, ELO, and other musical greats. The era’s most popular games will also be on hand and families are invited to bring their own games as well.
Then on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., don’t miss the Broadview Branch 50th Anniversary Celebration. Festivities will include games and art making; Native storytelling; a sound bath; live music including a marching band through the stacks; a cake-cutting and dedication. And, of course, there will be tour through history. Visitors will have the chance hear the library’s founding history from local historians and to create a memory at a Youth in Focus photo booth. Check out the full schedule of events on the Library’s calendar.
The old Broadview Branch (Image: Courtesy of SPL)
Community-built
Broadview’s story actually began in 1967, when the City of Seattle bought the site it currently sits on to build a library for the Broadview neighborhood. According to a library release: “Although the city set aside money to build the branch and plans were drawn, funds were diverted to renovate Sicks’ Stadium to house Seattle’s first major league baseball team, the Seattle Pilots.”
The Pilots were a flop, going bankrupt after one season and eventually leaving Seattle for Milwaukee.
Art by Marvin Oliver in the Broadway Branch (Image: Courtesy of SPL)
In the meantime, Broadview residents were up at arms—frustrated by the diversion and the delay in building their branch. Along with showing up at Seattle City Council meetings to protest delays, they staged a “read in” at the vacant lot at Greenwood and N. 130th Street, rallying the community to push for construction. Finally, eight years after plans were drawn and years of campaigning by the neighborhood, the City broke ground for the building in March 1975. The cedar and brick facility, —designed by architectural firm Steinhart, Theriault and Associates and was influenced by Native longhouses—was opened on Dec. 15, 1975. It featured artwork by Northwest Native artist Marvin Oliver, which still hangs in the branch today.
An expanded gathering place
In 2007, 7,500 square feet were added to the branch. It remaims a community hub today, with movie screenings, community meeting space, regular concerts by neighborhood music groups, an active Homework Help program, and a puzzle table. A mobile food pantry visits twice a month. Find out more on The Seattle Public Library’s Broadview Branch page.
