Advanced
Wagner Institute Branch

Item Info

Item No: pdcf00283
Title: Wagner Institute Branch
Additional Title: Interior view of the Wagner Institute Branch, ca. 1896
Historic Street Address: 17th Street & Montgomery Avenue, SW corner
Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:

 The Wagner Free Institute of Science housed the first branch of the Philadelphia Public Library (established by the Board of Education) in 1892. When the Free Library of Philadelphia became the City’s sole free public library system on January 1, 1896, the Wagner Institute Library—as well as each of the other five Philadelphia Public Library branches—became an official Free Library branch.

The branch rented space inside the Wagner Free Institute, and this ca. 1896 image shows a portion of the space in the original building. The branch occupied a larger space in an added wing.  The Wagner Institute Branch remained at this location until 1962. That year it was closed and replaced by the new Columbia Avenue Branch (later renamed the Cecil B. Moore Branch).

The Wagner Institute Branch served the communities of North Central Philadelphia.


Creation Year: ca. 1896
Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-75.162371
Geocode Latitude:39.980836