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TBT: Remember When Old Town School Was Lincoln Square's Library?

By Patty Wetli | November 20, 2014 5:28am
 Lincoln Square's Hild Library once occupied the building that's now home to Old Town School of Folk Music.
Lincoln Square's Hild Library once occupied the building that's now home to Old Town School of Folk Music.
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Chicago Public Library

LINCOLN SQUARE — Before there was the Old Town School of Folk Music, there was Hild Library.

Built in 1929-31, the art deco structure at 4544 N. Lincoln Ave. was the original home of Lincoln Square's branch library, named for Frederick Hild, Chicago's chief librarian from 1887 to 1909.

During his tenure, Hild's primary mission and ultimate accomplishment was the construction of the city's Central Library on Michigan Avenue, now the Chicago Cultural Center.

It was Hild's successor, Henry Legler, who brought books to the masses, developing a plan for an extensive network of branch libraries throughout the city, including Hild Library.

The collection at Hild eventually outgrew the building's shelf space and a new regional library, named for Conrad Sulzer, a pioneer settler of Ravenswood, opened down the street in 1985 at 4455 N. Lincoln Ave.

After standing vacant for more than a decade, the Hild Library gained a new lease on life, and a new name, in 1998 when the Old Town School of Folk Music moved in.

Though the building was extensively renovated to meet Old Town School's needs, a few notable remnants of the old library were preserved.

A pair of WPA murals were salvaged from Hild's former children's reading room. One was remounted in Maurer Hall and the other in a second-floor gallery, linking Lincoln Square's past with its present and future.

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