Albina Library — its past defined by growth-triggering relocation — has a storied history in its current home.
The 216 NE Knott St. address has previously been home to Albina Library before — the first time, it was the library’s location for a nearly 50-year initial run. The iconic Carnegie building first anchored library services a century ago in the immediate and surrounding Northeast neighborhoods.
"On October 18, 1912,’’ the Library Association of Portland announced in its annual report, “the Albina branch building was ready for service, a stucco building, Spanish renaissance in design; the interior gives broad floor spaces and is well adapted to the demands of that congested district."
The collection at the time included books in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Modern Greek, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Polish and Bohemian (Czech). In summer 2020, the library returned to the building with books in many of these languages, plus additional reading and other materials in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Somali and more.
As part of the Multnomah County voter-approved 2020 library bond Measure 26-211, Albina Library is among several libraries to undergo renovation and expansion.
Albina’s early history
Albina’s first location — a small reading room that housed about 100 books — opened in 1906, under the custodianship of Mrs. Mary Hurst Leche. The exact location of the reading room was at 550 Williams, and circulation records for the first year no longer exist.
Photo: This Spanish renaissance building first housed Albina Library from 1912-60.
“The eagerness with which the people of Albina young and old have taken advantage of this library has been a surprise even to those who believed most thoroughly in it. It has been almost impossible to keep the shelves supplied with books."
Growing use of the collection — 3,149 volumes and a circulation of 36,800 items by the end of 1909 — required another move to a larger place. The library was briefly located at a NE Russell St. site before moving a block-and-a-half to the Knott Street building. A 1911 gift of nearby property along with funds from the Carnegie Corporation of New York made the relocation and 1912 opening possible.
In 1954, the Library Association of Portland decided to move "the extension department" to the Albina Branch and closed the location for several months to remodel. When the remodel was complete and extension services began operating, several newspaper articles refer to the location as “the old Albina Branch.” It is unclear if the branch was still open to the public.
By 1958, nearly 600 units of housing were demolished for “urban renewal” projects like the Memorial Coliseum and I-5. This took away several blocks of housing, of which about half were occupied by Black Portlanders.
Between the lack of programming and meeting rooms, and population loss, there was a significant drop in foot traffic that led to lower circulation numbers. The library served the Albina area until 1960 when it closed.
In 1964 residents had banded together under the leadership of Bobbie Gary (listed as Mrs. Frederick D. Gary) to form the Albina Parents & Friends Committee to re-establish a library branch in the neighborhood (The Oregonian 10-09-1966 pg. 40). The group argued that the Vernon Branch at 4919 NE 17th (on Alberta) & North Portland (at current location) was too far from Albina's core area.
In 1967 the Albina War on Poverty Citizens Committee & the Metropolitan Steering Committee received funds from a $50,000 grant from The Oregon Library Association. This grant was funded by the Federal Library Services & Construction Act, a law enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson, that was meant to help build and run libraries in underserved communities (The Oregon Journal 03-31-1967 pg. 4).
In June 1967, Albina Library opened in a storefront building on the corner of North Vancouver Avenue and North Beech Street at the "More 4 Less Shopping Center." The exact address was 3530 N. Vancouver. The space was Dedicated June 5, 1967 at 8 pm (The Oregonian May 28 1967 pg. 25). Use declined over a 10-year period. Multnomah County Library Director Jim Burghardt openly acknowledged that the decline in use was the direct result of the displacement caused by urban renewal projects like the Emanuel Hospital expansion and adding highway onramps at Fremont to I-5 (The Oregon Journal 4-25-1977 pg. 8). Community members were skeptical and pushed back suggesting that Multnomah County Library could postpone the move and increase marketing efforts to see if the community would increase use if they were aware that they could lose the facility.
In 1977, the Library Association of Portland Board voted to move the library to Northeast 15th Avenue and Fremont Street. One organization, the Northeast Neighborhood Coalition, strongly opposed the move. Chair of the group, James Loving, reminded Oregon Journal readers that the Albina Branch was initially funded by a federal grant that was meant to benefit "disadvantaged neighborhoods" (The Oregon Journal 7-9-1977).
This proposed location had a significantly smaller Black population than the previous Albina Branch location. The U.S. Census tract at N Vancouver and Beech was over 80% Black, while the tract at NE 15th and Freemont was only 60%. The intersection is typically regarded as the southeast boundary point of Albina and was also the southeast boundary point for that census tract; the tract that begins on the other side of NE 15th was only around 20% Black according to the 1970 Census.
Ultimately, the library opened the Northeast 15th Avenue and Fremont Street location on October 4, 1977, under the direction of Librarian Mary Jamison-Tannehill.
After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the lease set to expire in June 2020 at the 3,500-square-foot Northeast 15th Avenue and Fremont Street location, Albina Library moved to the approximately 5,500-square-foot Knott Street building in July 2020.