The George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul.
The George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul.
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Former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer
Former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer

No St. Paul public library, other than the James J. Hill Reference Library and event center, has carried the name of a city leader. That’s about to change.

The St. Paul Central Library downtown is no longer. Welcome to the future — the George Latimer Central Library.

At the urging of Mayor Chris Coleman, St. Paul’s oldest, largest and most visible public library will be renamed after the city’s longest consecutively serving mayor — just in time for his 79th birthday in June.

“I feel a little closer to the end when I’m told they’re going to name a building after me,” joked Latimer, who is selling his Summit Hill home and moving into a senior-living facility at Episcopal Homes on University Avenue.

“A wise man who passed away last year — Monsignor Boxleitner — we wanted to name something for him when he was alive, and he said, Nope, nobody should have anything named after them until 10 years after they’re dead,” Latimer said.

“That’s probably true, but I am so grateful, and so moved, because libraries and books and learning have meant so much to me all of my life.”

Library officials say major cities such as Boston and Chicago have named their central structures after notable locals from bygone years, and they’re happy to join the club by honoring a living library booster.

“We’re very excited about this,” said Peter Pearson, president and lead staff member of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. “We think there’s no better honor for a mayor as popular as George Latimer. We’re just thrilled.”

Latimer, who was mayor from 1976 to 1990, sat on the Friends of the Library Board from 1998 to 2012, spending the past five years as board chairman. In 2012, he was elected board chair emeritus, the first lifetime appointment for the 69-year-old Friends group.

The Friends raise $1 million to $2 million annually to support library collections and other programs. At 5:30 p.m. June 10, Coleman will present Latimer with an official plaque cementing his role in the intellectual life of the city.

“I think George is one of the most transformational mayors in the history of the city,” said Coleman, who pointed to Latimer’s efforts to create District Energy, which heats and cools most of downtown.

“He continues to be perceived as the mayor by many,” Coleman continued. “He served 16 years in a period of time when cities were really struggling to rebuild, and dealing with flight to the suburbs and major changes downtown. He continued to take risks in projects like District Energy, and in some projects that were successful and some that weren’t. He used to teach a class on all of his mistakes as mayor. I think it should have been a two-semester class.”

Latimer said family will fly out from his childhood home in New York state to come to the naming ceremony, a rare treat.

“My big brothers, who are impressed by nothing, naturally I called them, and one of them is coming out here,” Latimer said. “The only time he’s ever been out here is when my wife died. He’s back in Schenectady.”

St. Paul City Council member Chris Tolbert, chairman of the library board, said that decades before such thinking became vogue, Latimer joined like-minded leaders and made it a goal that every child in Minnesota should read by third grade.

Kit Hadley, director of the St. Paul Public Library system, said her administration will work with the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission on a signage plan and alter print and digital materials to note the Central Library’s new name. “These are minimal costs,” she said.

Flanked by the 1914-era St. Paul Hotel and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, the expansive Central Library’s exterior stonework and high columns made of Tennessee marble open onto Rice Park, with an additional courtyard entrance on Kellogg Boulevard. Latimer said the grassy square is a unique feature for a capital city library, and he’s happy to have the structure bear his name.

Former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer, left, talks with Joe Errigo, then head of an affordable housing agency, and then-Archbishop John Roach, in 1980. (Courtesy of CommonBond Communities)
Former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer, left, talks with Joe Errigo, then head of an affordable housing agency, and then-Archbishop John Roach, in 1980. (Courtesy of CommonBond Communities)

Latimer, who holds a degree from Columbia Law School in New York and taught urban studies at Macalester College, recalled long hours thumbing through his father’s collection of Mark Twain stories at a young age and running to the neighborhood library for more.

“Libraries have always meant so much more to me than just a place to store books,” Latimer said. “I just think librarians are just a wonderful, special breed of people who really get happiness out of helping people into literacy, whether it’s finding a book or teaching them how to work the computer.”

Latimer will soon leave the home he’s occupied for 40 years and move into Episcopal Homes’ Terrace at Iris Park, independent senior housing near University and Lynnhurst avenues.

“It’s agony to empty out a house and to sell it, and that’s not unusual,” he said. “Everyone feels that way. My wife died seven years ago, and there’s not a space in the house that we didn’t share together, so there’s that.”

He’ll soon occupy an apartment not far from longtime friends, including former city council member and Ramsey County Commissioner Ruby Hunt.

“Aging is just an amazing thing,” he said. “How is it amazing? All the cliches are true. Everything seems like yesterday.”

Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172.

Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.

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