The second main library was built in 1902 at the corner of 14th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way (then called Grove Street). The building funds were donated by steel and railroad baron Andrew Carnegie, who also later donated funds to build several of our branches, among them Golden Gate, Melrose, and Temescal, still in use today. The city donated a plot of land for the Greene library in response to a campaign to replace the first library building, which had become dilapidated and overcrowded with books. With Oakland's rapid growth, however, this new library was again bursting at the seams 10 years later. Money for a new building was not available for many more years, and this grandly designed library saw the city through two world wars.

An exhibit in the reading room of Food conservation methods during perhaps the First World War. Some of this furniture is still in use in the current library.

"Librarian Frederick Bramford and his assistants" | The circulation counter and lobby of the Greene Library

In 1935, a new lending system was put into operation. Take a look at some of the cards and other correspondence we've had with borrowers.

A bond measure finally passed in 1945 to allow the building of a new Main Library, at 125 Fourteenth Street.

The Greene Library building was for many years left unused. It was reopened in the 2002 as the home of the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland.