Today is President William Howard Taft’s birthday, so we thought we’d remind everyone that back on May 23, 1911, he presided over the opening of our landmark building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue (above is a Digital Gallery photo of the building’s iconic Reading Room as it was being built in December 1909).
At the ceremony, Taft said: “This day crowns a work of National importance. The dedication of this beautiful structure for the spread of knowledge among the people marks not only the consummation of a noteworthy plan for bringing within the grasp of the humblest and poorest citizen the opportunity for acquiring information on every subject of every kind, but it furnishes a model and example for other cities which have been struggling with the same problem, and points for them the true way.”
Happy birthday, Mr. President.
