by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 14 August 2015
On August 8th, Fremocentrist.com took locals on a tour through the historic Seattle Public Library Fremont Branch and the underground, but world-known, Dusty String Music. The tour gave attendees a hands-on opportunity, but everyone also learned many more details about these places than previously revealed.
Fremont Library
The tour at the Fremont Branch started on the patio, at the main doors, where Supervising Librarian Andy Bates explained about the missing bronze signs that once hung in the specially built insets there. A few months ago, the larger of the two was stolen, but recovered almost immediately when a neighbor found it in the bushes. Bates suggests that the incredible weight of the bronze made carrying it any distance overwhelming. At that time, the smaller sign was loosened, but not removed – then. Seattle Public Library (SPL) workers came and re-affixed the smaller plaque, but it was still successfully stolen a few weeks later – and never recovered. At this time, the larger plaque is being kept safe, but no word has been given on whether it will ever be reattached – or if the smaller one will be replaced with a copy.
From there, the group moved inside the main room, and heard details about how the Fremont Library started. In 1894, a farmer named Erastus Witter opened the Fremont Reading Room by soliciting 10 prominent citizens for $5 per year toward acquiring books and space. The Room moved around the neighborhood a bit. In 1901, it sat on the second floor of the Fremont Drug Co.
When the City of Seattle launched a Public Library System, they wanted to establish the first branch in Fremont, but Witter objected. The Library Board finally swayed him by naming him Fremont’s librarian, and our branch opened on February 2, 1903 with 1,000 volumes.
While ours is the oldest operating branch of SPL, Fremont didn’t have a permanent structure like many others. In 1916 the Businessmen’s Club of Fremont began a drive to raise money to build us one, and in 1917, well-known philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $35,000 toward a building, if the community provided the land, books and staff. This would be one of the last gifts made by Carnegie, and one of the last libraries in the U.S. built with his money.
The community raised $7,000 through rummage sales, dances, card parties, variety shows, a carnival and street fair. The City of Seattle gave $3,000 to complete purchase of the property at 731 N 35th St. To save money on design, city architect Daniel R. Huntington was ‘hired’, and he chose a look he reportedly called, “Italian Farmhouse,” (HistoryLink.org). The unusual structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has Seattle Landmark status. The Fremont Branch opened officially on July 27th, 1921.
On the outside, the Fremont Library has changed very little, beyond the landscaping. Inside, SPL has done renovations and maintenance to keep the library functional. Renovations in 1945 converted the basement of the building for use by the Library of the Blind, which operated here until the 1970s.
In 2005, a significant yearlong renovation concluded, including construction by the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation of a wheelchair ramp that meanders through the neighboring Ernst (‘Slippery Slope’) Park to the Library’s basement meeting room. The interior renovations returned the wooden book shelves in the main room to their original lower height, providing more natural light, relocated the lending desk to the left of the entrance, and created a less visible, more private computer area for users.
The 2005 renovation also included installation on the west wall of two mixed-media murals by Dennis Evans, part of a series of pieces installed in five SPL Carnegie branches. At the grand reopening in 2005, however, two murals that had previously hung in the main room were missing. This set, now hanging on the east wall, were purchased through community-based fundraisers, including money raised at book sales held in the library basement. After the opening in 2005, the murals were found, damaged, and SPL paid for their restoration and reinstallation.
The tour then went through the circulation room, where the staff catalogue materials, and on to the basement, with visits inside the former boiler room, the staff lounge, Bates’ office, and other backroom areas. Renovations are actually more apparent here, with water damage repaired and updating done to make the spaces more functional than they were when the rooms were used for Library of the Blind storage.
Finally, Bates led the group to the public meeting room, which can accommodate up to 70 people and is available for public use for free. The library staff had set out here a collection of historic materials on Fremont that the library maintains for community use. For more information on this, or anything about the Fremont Branch, contact Andy Bates at 206/684-4084 or andy.bates@spl.org
Dusty Strings Store & Music School
The tour then strolled inside Dusty Strings, which on a Saturday afternoon sounds less like a store and more like a live music festival as musicians try out the variety of stringed instruments that fill the sales floor. Even opening the door, at the bottom of the stairs, creates a pretty sound as a pick attached to the door strums a mountain dulcimer installed above it around the time the store began in 1982.
In the largest of the Dusty Strings classrooms, co-owner and founder Ray Mooers gave a history of the well-regarded, destination retailer, manufacturer, and music school.
It all began with a music festival, Mooers explained, where he and his wife Sue first saw a hammered dulcimer. Ray went home and worked on building one, and in 1978 manufacturing them in the couple’s basement, selling the beautiful, hand-crafted pieces at festivals and craft fairs. The more they sold, the more people they brought on to help with manufacturing and sales, and the more crowded that basement became.
In 1982, the Mooers found a space in Fremont where they could grow the business, renting part of a basement. Seattle Building Salvage, a company that removes hardware and fixtures from buildings before demolition, storing them and selling them to builders for renovations, had been using the basement but was slowly shrinking. According to Ray, Dusty Strings started with a quarter of the basement but they kept expanding, taking over the lease so they could manage the use of the space.
They eventually took over the entire basement, including the loading dock – located one story up but accessed by a very old, hydraulic lift – bringing in loads of lumber and shipping out finished harps and hammered dulcimers made in Fremont.
In 1999, with Dusty Strings (manufacturing, repair, retail and occasional small classes and concerts) once again bursting at the seams, and the Seattle Fire Department now threatening over the use of finishes in a basement workshop, the Mooers went looking for another space. In 2002, the manufacturing of Dusty Strings moved to Interbay, and they expanded the classroom and concert space in the Fremont.
Mooers led a tour around the entire basement, pointing out the current use and the historic use of every room, including the lift which has become dysfunctional, and serves as part of the repair area. The tour group also admired the McKenzie Building header, rescued when the structural canopies were removed from the Dusty Strings entrance in 2013, and preserved in the sales room. The group also discussed the basement space, often thought to be the original first floor of the building, but actually is just a basement.
Mooers concluded the tour with a short concert, playing an authentic Dusty Strings hammered dulcimer – made in Seattle and sold in Fremont. For more information on the instruments, and classes in how to play them (plus music books, and recordings,) visit Dusty Strings to see for yourself – and might I recommend, stop by on a Saturday afternoon for an impromptu concert!
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©2015 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.