Added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 1987

The old Wilmington Branch Library building on Opp Street is in chrysalis mode right now. Its sole tenant, the Wilmington Historical Society, is in the middle of a multi-phase library glow up, bringing it back to its close-to-original appearance. Maintaining a nearly century-old building is hard, expensive work, even without the added hassles that the Society has faced. Like the old camphor tree that needed to be uprooted because it’s pulling up the pavement. Or that guy that wanted to set fire to it in 2025, but opted for throwing the Spanish tiles off the roof instead. 

Clearly the Society believes in the importance of this building to Wilmington. Though it hasn’t been a library since 1988, it’s a physical link to an important era in the development of both Wilmington and LA’s library system, one of the largest in the country. So before we dive into the Wilmington Branch’s history, let’s take a step back for some context. 

Back around the turn of the 20th century, LA’s public library system was still in its formative phase. Before 1913, when the Vermont Square Branch was built in South LA, the LAPL didn’t own a single permanent library building. Angelenos who lived a distance from the Central Library downtown would go to small reading rooms and distribution centers near them, housed in elementary schools, drugstores and firehouses. Even the Central Library occupied a bunch of rented spaces (including City Hall and the Homer Laughlin Building) before it found its forever home in 1926. 

But LA was on the up and up in the 1920s. The city’s population exploded nearly four-fold between 1910 and 1930, driven by the booming oil and film industries. Down in the harbor towns of Wilmington and San Pedro (both annexed to LA in 1909), working class immigrant communities thrived in maritime trades like fishing, canning, dockworking and shipbuilding. Then the Wilmington Oil Field was discovered in 1932, establishing a major presence for the oil industry in Wilmington that still defines the area today.

As Los Angeles developed, the public library branch system evolved right along with it. Voters passed two bond measures in 1921 and 1925 for a total of $3 million, which funded the construction of 25 new branch libraries – plus the Central Library – between 1923 and 1928.

The original Wilmington Branch Library on Opp Street resulted from the same batch of bond funds that gave us the Richard Henry Dana Branch, the Washington Irving Branch and the Wilshire Branch. It was the first structure in Wilmington built specifically as a library, but it wasn’t Wilmington’s first experience with a bookery. 

From 1908 through 1924 the community could check out books on the second floor of the old Wilmington City Hall. For the first year the library was paid for by public endowment funds. Then when Wilmington was annexed to Los Angeles in 1909, the city took over operations. The library started small, with just 100 volumes, many of them donated by the local Women’s Club. Under the care of librarians Hazel Hearne (the library’s first full-time librarian), Mary McGrew and Minnie Markham the collection grew steadily, up to a reported 3,228 books and magazines in 1924. That year, after its original 15-year lease was up, the Wilmington library moved to a storefront on West Anaheim Boulevard while it waited for the next move. 

In April of 1926 Los Angeles City Librarian Everett R. Perry announced that the Library Board and art commission had approved plans for the new Wilmington Branch, estimated to cost $40,000. Around $11,000 went to the purchase of the land at the corner of J Street (later renamed Opp Street) and Fries Avenue, with around $28,000 earmarked for the building itself. San Pedro contractor W.H. McAllister pitched the winning bid in mid-August of that year, and by the end of the month work had begun.

The architects of the Wilmington Branch were the esteemed Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury, designers of Pasadena’s USC Pacific Asia Museum and (as Marston & Maybury) the Padua Hills Theatre in Claremont. They gave Wilmington a humble but elegant library, small in scale to match the neighborhood of single-family homes that surrounded it. It was built of reinforced concrete (which helped it survive the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 with barely any damage), and designed in the Spanish colonial revival style as a reference to the area’s Spanish rancho past. The plain stucco walls, the red tiled roof, beamed ceilings, wrought-iron window covers and Churrigueresque details around the front doorway all harked back to the architecture of New Spain and, aside from the ornamentation, the Spanish missions of California. 

The Wilmington Branch was set up with a modified L-shaped floor plan, one of three plans that the library system’s superintendent of buildings specified for the 1920s branches. You’d enter through the vestibule lined in dark oak, and immediately come across the circulation desk to your left, placed to allow a good view of both the adults and children’s reading room.

Past the desk were book stacks, and at the north end was a small auditorium, connected via an interior door to the right of the fireplace. A work room, staff room and employee kitchen lined the west side, and on the east side, accessible from both reading rooms, was an outdoor patio covered by a wooden pergola.

Light pours into the children’s reading room, thanks to the abundant glass of the windows and doors on the east side, and rows of clerestory windows just below the vaulted ceiling. At the north end of the room is my favorite detail of this library, a fanciful “mural painting in ceramics” over the fireplace called “A Child’s Storybook World.” The 84 faience tiles show a young boy ensconced under a tree, deeply engaged in an oversized book, while miniature horses, knights, fairies, chariots and castles vie for his attention. The mural, crafted by Gladding, McBean & Co. at their Tropico plant in Glendale, gave this room its affectionate nickname the “Robin Hood Room.”

500 people attended the dedication ceremony the evening of March 18, 1927, including many of the women who donated two books a piece to build the Wilmington library’s original collection from 1908. The new librarian Mary Linebarger gave a history of the Wilmington Library’s beginnings; architect Sylvanus Marston gave a speech entitled “Our Library Building;” Miss Althea Warren, first assistant librarian for the entire LA Public Library system, augured a bright future for the new Wilmington Branch. For entertainment, the Phineas Banning High School Band played a few rousing numbers, and a young violinist played a couple tunes. Baskets of flowers adorned every room of the library, donated by the local PTA, Chamber of Commerce, a mortuary, even a local boot store. Sounds like it was a real hootenanny.

Judging by the number of library-related stories in the local papers in the years after its opening, the Wilmington community adopted their new library pretty quickly and thoroughly. We get coverage of the library opening its doors to schoolchildren on Thursdays and Fridays in April of 1927, and a Doll Convention held there in 1930, with a picture of a nonplussed eight-year-old Laura Bower holding her prize-winning doll Mamie.

The papers also tracked the comings and goings of the fabulously-named librarian Minerva Grimm (e.g. “Miss Minerva Grimm resumed her duties Monday…after a very delightful vacation trip to Alaska” and “Miss Minerva Grimm…leaves Sunday night with a group of teachers and librarians on an excursion trip through old Mexico”).

Even in tough times, the Wilmington Branch responded to the needs of the community. A 1957 article in the Wilmington Daily Press Journal claims that the library’s circulation exploded from 61,313 books in 1927 to 156,000 during the Great Depression, when a big upswing in unemployment left the community with more leisure time (though both of those figures are pretty questionable, given that the Wilmington Branch was built to hold 25,000 volumes at most). After America entered WWII in 1941, the Wilmington Branch discontinued night service and began opening earlier in the day, to accommodate wartime “blackout” orders. Three years later the library started accepting clothing donations to help Russian civilians displaced by their 1944 war against Finland. 

The demographics of Wilmington evolved over the library’s history. Irish and Italian immigrants flowed into the harbor area during the early 1900s, followed by Blacks and Filipinos during and after WWII. Latinos now make up the vast majority of Wilmington’s residents. The library served them all, and shifted its services and the languages included in its collections to accommodate each group. For many years the Spanish word “Biblioteca” was painted on the south side of the library, with a sign advertising “BIBLIOTECA DE WILMINGTON” posted on the southeast lawn. 

By the late 1970s the Wilmington Branch building was showing its age. The lack of carpeting, air conditioning, and off-street parking weren’t up to modern library standards. There was so little space for their ever-growing collections, that they had to commandeer the auditorium for storage. And with its corner lot hemmed in by residential buildings, there was no chance of the library building expanding.

A grassroots group called The Friends of the Wilmington Library began to push for a new facility around 1980. They started by petitioning Los Angeles City Councilmember Joan Milke Flores to request a series of federal block grants for the new library. The money was eventually secured to purchase a lot at the corner of North Avalon Boulevard and East M Street, and build a gleaming new facility, three times the size of the old Wilmington Branch. Officials broke ground in 1987, and completed the building the following year. 

The old library on Opp Street shuttered on September 10, 1988, and a crew of library staff, volunteers and California Conservation Corps members packed up 2,000 boxes to be driven two minutes north to the new facility.

It is perhaps no coincidence that in the same year that Wilmington’s historic library was vacated, the Wilmington Historical Society would form to advocate for preserving the region’s history. The Society was interested in housing their archives at the library, but they couldn’t afford the $20,000 in annual maintenance fees and liability insurance. One proposal floated in 1989 was for the city to place a police substation there, which would mean the city would handle the upkeep, and be free to lease out the space to the Wilmington Historical Society.

After seven years and a $350,000 renovation, the old library finally reopened on February 11, 1996 as the Wilmington Community Building. The nearly 70-year-old building was upgraded with an entrance ramp for accessibility, plus blue carpeting and an A/C system on the inside. The city added partitions to the interior space, with doorways that mimicked the dark wood of the entryway. The sky blue color that you can still see on exterior windows and doorframes today date from that era. Oil companies Unocal, Texaco and Ultramar – all of which had refineries in Wilmington at the time – contributed $1,000 each to pay for furniture. 

The LAPD now had a room for its Jeopardy gang-prevention program, and a small office for police officers. LA City Councilman Rudy Svorinich, Jr. used another room as a drop-in office. And at long last, the Wilmington Historical Society got their proper headquarters, for just $1 a year in rent. “For years now, our archives have been stored in public storage and in our members’ garages,” the Society’s president Gwen Butterfield told the News-Pilot at the time. “I know my den is filled with boxes of stuff. So this is a great day for us.”

Tenants have come and gone over the last 30 years. The Gang Alternatives Program had its offices there for more than a decade. But the Historical Society has outlasted all of the former library’s other occupants.

Today inside the former auditorium, the Society maintains shelves upon shelves of documents and photographs from throughout Wilmington history, all organized by a professional archivist. There’s a 1920s-era card catalog in there, salvaged from the original library. 

When I visited, the Society was nearing the end of phase one of the extensive restoration process. Workers had ripped up the non-original rug and linoleum, to expose original hardwood floors and return the front interior rooms to their near-original states.

The pergola outside desperately needed sanding, sealing and repainting, all of which has been completed now. These repairs were done with the blessing of the city of LA, which still owns the building, but the funds were raised by the Wilmington Historical Society, largely through private donations. Some sizable ones came from Fast Lane Transportation, Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66, all local to Wilmington.

Next on the agenda are the entry vestibule, interior lighting, flat roof sealant and parking lot redo. There’s still plenty to accomplish before the Wilmington Branch Library is fully restored. I’m waiting patiently, like the kid in that ceramic tile mural in the Robin Hood Room, just imagining what’s to come. 

Thank you to Laura Mohberg of the Wilmington Historical Society, for giving me the grand tour of the library and for sharing so many photos and resources that have contributed to this piece.

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ Architectural Forum, vol. XLVII, no. 6, December 1927 (via USModernist.org)

+ Brady, Caroline: “Old Wilmington Library begins new chapter” (News-Pilot, February 8, 1996 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Busy Readers Get New Library Help” (Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1949 – via ProQuest)

+ Coulter, Tom: “Funds being sought for new library” (News-Pilot, April 20, 1982 – via newspapers.com)

+ “General Population by City, Los Angeles County.” Los Angeles Almanac. © 1998-2026 Given Place Media, publishing as Los Angeles Almanac. Accessed April 22, 2026.

+ Gladding, McBean & Co.: “Shapes of Clay” (Volume III No. 3, March 1927)

+ Gnerre, Sam: “South Bay History: Why Wilmington once had its own city hall” (Daily Breeze, updated August 20, 2019)

+ Hyers, Faith Holmes, compiler: Hand Book of the Branch Libraries (PDF – Los Angeles Public Library, 1928)

+ Hyers, Faith Holmes: “New Branch Libraries Spread Education Among Citizens” (Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1927 – via newspapers.com)

+ Italian Museum of Los Angeles: “Settlement: Part 1” (Google Arts & Culture)

+ “Librarian Back Back [sic] from Alaska” (Wilmington Daily Press Journal, August 30, 1929 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Librarian Leaves for Mexican Tour” (News-Pilot, June 28, 1930 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Library Schedule Alteration Told” (Wilmington Daily Press Journal, December 10, 1941 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Local Library Increases Hours of Service with New Schedule” (Wilmington Daily Press Journal, February 8, 1947 – via newspapers.com)

+ Multiple Property Submission to the NRHP for LA Public Library Branches, 1913-1930 (NPS.gov)

+ “New Wilmington Branch Library Formally Opens” (Press-Telegram, March 20, 1927 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Port Library Has Large Circulation” (Long Beach Telegram and Daily News, July 6, 1924 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Port of Los Angeles: History” (portoflosangeles.org)

+ “Renovation Starts at Wilmington Library, Grounds” (Wilmington Daily Press Journal, November 20, 1947 – via newspapers.com)

+ “San Pedro Builder Gets Contract for Wilmington Library” (News-Pilot, August 13, 1926 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Stirring Scenes in Old City Hall at Port Recalled” (Press-Telegram, March 14, 1926 – via newspapers.com)

+ Stolberg, Sheryl: “A Future for the Past” (Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1988 – via ProQuest)

+ Stolberg, Sheryl: “One for the Books : Sparkling $2.2-Million Library Gives Wilmington a Lift” (Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1988)

+ Stolberg, Sheryl: “Plan Calls for Former Library to Be a Police Substation Closed to Public” (Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1989 – via ProQuest)

+ Tobin, Doris, editor: “Library Marks Anniversary” (Wilmington Daily Press Journal, March 19, 1957 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Will Start Work on Wilmington Library Monday” (News-Pilot, August 28, 1926 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Wilmington Branch Library: Children to Be Welcomed” (Press-Telegram, April 6, 1927 – via newspapers.com)

+ Wilmington Branch Library’s individual NRHP nomination form (NPS.gov) 

+ Wilmington Historical Society website 

+ Wilmington Historical Society: “Engaging the Community” PDF (via private email correspondence)

+ Wilmington Historical Society, Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, and the Banning Residence Museum: Images of America: Wilmington (Arcadia Publishing, 2008)

+ “Wilmington Opens New Branch Library” (Press-Telegram, March 18, 1927 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Wilmington’s New Branch Library to Be Opened Tuesday” (Press-Telegram, March 10, 1927 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Women Entertain Club Members in Winslow Homestead” (Press-Telegram, February 17, 1927 – via newspapers.com)