Library Flooding

Architects Mitchell & Hodges were right to argue against the inclusion of a basement in the San Anselmo Public Library. The requirement turned out to be a mistake from the very beginning as dampness and flooding would continue to be an issue for at least the next 90 years. Just six years after completion, the San Anselmo Herald reported on January 21, 1921, that the basement “Library Hall was so wet that Fire Chief Cartwright decided it would be best to postpone the card party which had been planned for Tuesday evening.”

One of San Anselmo’s most severe floods occurred in January 1925. Library Hall, which had its floors and walls recently refinished, was damaged and the all the work had to be re-done. In January 1940, firemen had to pump three feet of water out of the basement. When San Anselmo Creek overflowed its banks in December 1955, the basement housed the Children’s Room, and one half of the books there were ruined. Librarian Virginia Stewart reported that 1,600 books had to be taken out of circulation after 30 inches of water covered the lower shelves. A local group raised funds to replace some of the books.

On December 3, 1970 the basement flooded after nine days of steady rain, and then the flood of January 4, 1982, severely damaged the San Anselmo Library. There was five feet of water and mud in the basement, and over 1,000 books were destroyed. Some of the damaged materials were sent to San Francisco to be freeze-dried; among them was the master inventory of books. Waterlogged magazines were hung on clotheslines to dry by over 40 volunteers who worked more than a week.

Even drainage improvements, waterproofing and the installation of flood gates and pumps completed during the 1994-1997 rehabilitation project, couldn’t stop the flood waters in the early morning hours of December 31, 2005. Many books and historical records were lost. The library staff worked nine months in temporary offices in the back parking lot while repairs were made.

A box containing documents rescued from the 2005 flood and freeze-dried was re-discovered. Several hundred pages, many still coated with dried mud, were found to be early minutes, reports and financial records related to the San Anselmo Library’s early history. Not all was lost! Information was gleaned from them for this article.