In 1912, railroad baron James J. Hill made a significant contribution towards the construction and endowment of a reference library attached to the public library in St. Paul. The library broke ground in 1913, opened to the public in 1921, and was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The building was designed in the Italian Renaissance style using pink Tennessee marble on the exterior with massive columns of Kettle River sandstone for the library’s Reading Room. In 2019 the library was closed and the historic space is now a premier event center.
The Saint Paul Public Library:
The Children’s Room:
