Sculpture Relief

Sculpture Relief. . , The sculpture relief located above the Library's front entrance on North Wood Avenue was created by James Abbott Stoves (1868-1948). Stoves was a stone carver and proprietor of Florence Marble Works. The sculpture was originally placed above the entrance to the Henry C. Gilbert Elementary School in Florence (pictured) which opened in late march 1921. In July 1980, after the demolition of Gilbert School in the wake of a fire, the sculpture was relocated to Hibbett Middle School. Because its theme relates to teaching, it was later incorporated into the facade of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library., Stoves came to America from England, circa 1882, and was in Birmingham, Alabama, by 1899. By 1910, he had moved to Mobile, and by 1916 had settled with his wife and children in Florence, where he went into partnership with JF Gonella at Florence Marble Works. Many of the monuments in Florence City Cemetery were sculpted by Stoves and/or Florence Marble Works., The Ladies' Library , What eventually became the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library was established in 1885 by a group of local women when they formed a $1-per-year subscription library called The Ladies Library. The library collection, which was originally housed at the Florence Presbyterian Female Synodical College (the current site of the John McKinley Federal Building) before the school closed around 1899, had several homes, including City Hall, the University of North Alabama (formerly known as Florence State Teachers College), and the cafeteria of the former Reeder Hotel in downtown Florence. In 1946, after a prosperous fundraising campaign, which began with Florence businessman Louis Rosenbaum donating $25,000 to find a permanent home for it, the library was settled into its residence at 218 North Wood Avenue. On January 9, 1949, it opened as a free public library, with Miss Evelyn Peeler, of Stanley County, North Carolina hired as head librarian., In 2002, the library collection was moved a final time, one block north, to its current building. For more than one hundred years, the library has been an integral part of the city, not just as a place to check out books, but as a lecture hall, theater, music hall, and education center that is free and open to all individuals., Public Library Board of Trustees in May 1996, the late Dick Jordan, who served as Florence City Councilman for District Two, said it was the city's responsibility to finance a new library building. In the fall of 1998 an evaluation of the old library building found it inadequate for remodeling. A Public Library Building Committee was soon formed. Mr. Jordan, throughout his lifetime, was a great advocate and staunch supporter of the public library. The Florence-Lauderdale Public Library (FLPL) is grateful to the following entities for their ongoing support: , City of Florence . Lauderdale County Commission . FLPL Friends of the Library . FLPL Foundation . Alabama Public Library Service , Captions , Photo of Henry C. Gilbert Elementary School featuring the sculpture relief (1976) , Close-up of the sculpture relief , Library Cornerstone Dedication , Attending the ceremony in June 1948 were, from left: Henry Grady Richards, Miss Marion Neal (bookmobile librarian), Judge Robert M. Hill, Harold S. May, Mrs. Alberta Rogers, Dr. Henry W. Cheaney, W. D. Brooks (contractor), Louis Rosenbaum, Henry A. Bradshaw, Jewett T. Flagg, William H. Mitchell and Miss Catherine Green, regional librarian. Miss Evelyn Peeler, headquarters librarian, not shown. , Postcard of the first public library building