2o6 HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



At the annual meeting of the I^ibrary Association, June 13, 1888, there 

 were 16 10 shares represented, out of a total of 1990 shares of stock that had 

 been issued. The officers then elected were C. T. Hopkins, president ; 

 Abbot Kinney, vice-president ; Mrs. S. E. Merritt, secretary and librarian ; 

 ly. C. Winston, assistant secretary; Otto Froelich, treasurer; H. N. Rust, 

 Dr. W. F. Channing, Charles M. Parker, and Chas. lyCgge, additional 

 directors. Enoch Knight, attorney. President Hopkins in his annual re- 

 port said : ' ' We had made all arrangements for the external completion of 

 the building during the past year at a total cost of $17,604, leaving the in- 

 terior finish and painting to be provided for hereafter. * * But 

 the contractor for the brick and stone work failed after completing half the 

 walls." This failure caused much embarrassment and delay, for this con- 

 tract was to have been completed by October 31, 1887, and now they had 

 to enforce continuance of the work by the bondsmen for the contractor, 

 the Tehachipi Building Stone Co. of lyos Angeles ; but the delays and 

 troubles with other contracts caused by this delinquent one proved dis- 

 astrous, 



A later report, in 1888, says the lot was valued at $16,000 ; and that in 

 default of the conditions being fulfilled by the Eibrary society, the property 

 should revert to the grantor or his representatives. And after reciting 

 these conditions of the grant as made and accepted in 1886, this 1888 re- 

 port further says : 



* ' Plans were then obtained and contracts let for the construction of a 

 beautiful stone edifice in the Romanesque style.* The internal finishing 

 was not contracted for, the entire available resources of the Society being 

 exhausted in paying for the walls and roof, which as the building now 

 stands, have cost $20,000. This cost has been defrayed out of the proceeds 

 of the two lots owned successively by the Society, and by individual sub- 

 scriptions. The hard times following the reaction from our late "boom " 

 made it utterly impossible to obtain further contributions from the residents 

 of Pasadena, and Mr. Legge has kindly extended the time for another year, 

 ending December 31, 1889. About $5,000 is required to finish the building 

 — in default whereof it will become the property of Mr. Eegge, should he 

 see fit to assert his rights, and the Society will then be stripped of all its 

 property except the books upon its shelves." 



The Eibrary managers, by counting on ' ' boom ' ' pledges that had been 

 given for their building fund, represented that $6,000 would finish the 

 building and pay up all outstanding obligations, and secure the whole 

 property, worth $36,000, as a permanent Public Library belonging to the 

 whole community. And upon this assurance and belief a few public 

 spirited citizens came to the rescue by raising the money on their joint note, 

 which I here give as a notable historic document : 



♦The green stone and the buff stone in this building are from quarries only half a mile apart in the 

 Tehachipi mountains ; while the marble pillars are from the quarry at Colton. 



