Located in the historic district of Cumberland, Maryland, the Washington Street Library first opened its doors on June 19, 1934. This Greek Revival style building was constructed between 1849 and 1850, as a larger building for the Allegany County Academy, the first public school in Allegany County which was founded in 1799. A new addition was constructed in 1966, allowing for the expansion of the library collection.
Today, the Washington Street Library houses the largest reference collection in the Allegany County Library System, and offers an extensive local history area in the Maryland Room. Free internet access, books on tape, Interlibrary Loan services, and an impressive collection of fiction and non-fiction materials are just a few of the services offered. Children's programs take place weekly.
Famous quotes containing the words washington, street, library and/or county:
“Have you ever been in love? A doll in Washington Heights once got a fox fur out of me.”
—Jay Dratler, U.S. screenwriter, Samuel Hoffenstein (1889–1947)
“What are you now? If we could touch one another,
if these our separate entities could come to grips,
clenched like a Chinese puzzle . . . yesterday
I stood in a crowded street that was live with people,
and no one spoke a word, and the morning shone.
Everyone silent, moving. . . . Take my hand. Speak to me.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)
“But I would say to my fellows, once for all, As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)