Amelia S. Givin Free Library

In January of 1889, the Mt. Holly Springs Central Hotel caught fire and burned to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Amelia S. Givin purchased the lot and, in May 1889, announced her intentions to provide a free library for the working people of the two large paper mills built by her father. Soon after Givin’s announcement, ground was broken for the new library. The original library has had one addition constructed in 1985-1987. The addition was added to the east façade of the library, and necessitated the closure of four original windows, although they remain in situ, and are visible from the interior of the historic library. 

Mt. Holly Springs was already a well-established center of commerce when incorporated as a borough in 1873. Known variously as Papertown or Kidderminster, this village was rich in natural resources. In the early nineteenth century, several paper companies maintained successful mills, supported by an abundant supply of water. In addition, high quality iron ore was in abundance and several furnaces and forges had set up shop. By the turn of the century, Mt. Holly Springs’ population had grown to approximately one-thousand-two-hundred persons, largely due to the workforce necessary for the established industries. In addition, the Mt. Holly Springs Park was a popular resort destination bringing people from Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. 

In 1827, the Givin family built a factory in Mt. Holly Springs to make rugs and blankets. Along with these rug-making factories, the Givins owned Mt. Holly Springs Paper Company, which was extremely profitable and established the family’s wealth. With her inheritance, Amelia S. Givin not only built and furnished the library but also generously endowed it as well. Records do not show the same level of civic philanthropy from other members of the Givin family. Amelia Givin’s uncle on her father’s side of the family, Samuel Givin, did serve on Mt. Holly Springs’ first Borough Council, but the family’s chief contribution, besides Amelia's library, appears to be the supply of major community employment at its various factories. 

Amelia Givin hired Pittsburgh’s James T. Steen - a prominent architect well versed in the style of the influential civic architect, Henry Hobson Richardson - to design her memorial library. Steen was considered the foremost architect in Western Pennsylvania, designing many buildings in downtown Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, only a few of these structures have survived. Among Steen’s best-known Romanesque Revival designs were The Western University of Pennsylvania (later the University of Pittsburgh), the original City Hall, the Kaufman department store, and the YMCA. Steen designed the library using classic Richardsonian elements including broad round arches, use of towers with conical roofs, rusticated ashlar masonry, battered foundation walls, banks of windows, deeply set windows and doors, squat columns, and carved ornament. 

The Givin Library was in operation a full decade before the next library in Cumberland County would open. The Bosler Library in Carlisle opened in 1900 as a subscription library, costing one dollar per year for its use. The Colonial Revival style Bosler Library is a stately presence in Carlisle, seat of Cumberland County and home of Dickinson College. The Bosler and Givin libraries were the only public libraries in Cumberland County until the late 1950s. In 1960, the Cumberland County Library System was formed. It is now a federation of eight independent libraries throughout the county. Until the Cleve J. Frederickson Library was constructed in 2001 in Camp Hill, the Bosler and Givin libraries were the only county libraries whose original intent was that of a public library. 

Amelia S. Givin Free Library, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 5th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996650.

Amelia S. Givin, Wikipedia. Accessed January 22nd 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_S._Givin.