Jefferson Market Library

By Corinne Neary

“OLD JEFF.” Image credit: Ric Howard for the Village Neighborhood Committee for the Clock, 1962.

Jefferson Market Library history buffs and long-time residents will know that our building exists today due to the hard work of neighborhood activists who fought to have the old, abandoned courthouse saved from demolition and converted to a library. What some of you may not know is that the fight for the building really began with the fight for the clock in our tower, also known to old-timers as “Old Jeff.”

In the late 1950s, a group of dedicated neighbors, including some very big names like Margot Gayle and Ruth Wittenberg, had an idea to raise funds to get the clock hands, stopped for some years, ticking again. What made this idea really genius was that they used it as a litmus test to see if they might be able to rally for a new use for the building itself. When they succeeded in their efforts to repair and revitalize the clock, they did indeed do just that and began the longer and harder fight to convert the building into a library.

For a group of neighbors to succeed in this uphill battle, and for us all to still be reaping the rewards today, speaks volumes about the degree of activism that existed at that time in the Village. Walking through the doors of this library is to be reminded of the spirit of this neighborhood every day. The fight for the clock that began three quarters of a century ago is something that changed the landscape of the Village, and the fight did not end there, even after we were well established as a library, and our old House of Detention had long been replaced with our neighborhood oasis, the Jefferson Market Garden.

In the 1990s, after the bell’s chiming had been long wiped out by an electrical storm, another generation of Village advocates undertook a fight to get it ringing again. Two of the most instrumental women in this fight were Cynthia Crane and Marilyn Dorato, as they formed the Friends of the Jefferson Market Library Bell. The bell finally rang again at the beginning of 1997, but their fight did not end there. For years, they fought another, much smaller, neighborhood coalition, led by former Patchin Place resident Charles Platt. Platt fought against the bell with as much energy as you can imagine: blanketing the neighborhood with mailers and flyers, urging others to sign a petition, attending community board meetings, and speaking with the press. The bell that we take for granted today was not at all a given thing.

We are exploring this history and highlighting our library archive with a new exhibit this month in our Little Underground Gallery. We have dozens of original documents: fundraising invitations, correspondence, articles, photographs, and more. On May 6 at 6 p.m., we will host an opening of the exhibit, including a brief talk on what we have on display. If you can’t make it on the 6th, the exhibit will remain up for the month of May. We hope to see you there.

As always, check our website for the most complete listing of our programs for all ages.