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Isabelle Bazan Branch Library
The Isabel G. Bazan Branch Library stands as a living memorial to Miss Isabel G. Bazan, former Main Library Supervisor. For over 34 years, Miss Bazan brought to the Library leadership, knowledge, and skill in implementing creative programs and ideas. Prior to the Bazan Library, there was the old Prospect Hill Library which was built in 1930. This area, also known as Prospect Hill, which is just west of downtown, is rich in history and has produced many prominent Hispanic citizens. The library's doors closed in 1969, when the Las Palmas Library was opened further west. |
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Brook Hollow Branch Library
Brook Hollow Branch Library was the first library branch to be built outside of Loop 410. |
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Carver Branch Library
The Carver Branch Library originally opened as the "Colored Library Branch" in temporary quarters at 310 N. Hackberry on March 3, 1930. The completed library located on the property formerly occupied by the Colored Library Association, a private library located at North Center and North Hackberry streets, opened on August 2, 1930. The library was renamed for George Washington Carver in January 1939. The former library building now operates as the Carver Cultural Center. |
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Cody Branch Library
The Edmund Cody Branch Library is named in honor of Mr. Edmund Cody, who served as the Superintendent of the Northside School District for seventeen years and was instrumental in promoting the community library. |
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Collins Garden Branch Library
The Collins Garden Branch Library was built on land donated to the city by Finis Foster Collins in 1917. The groundbreaking for the 15th branch was held on December 4, 1983. It was officially dedicated on December 2, 1984 and opened to the public on December 17, 1984. Architects for the $1.4 million project were Alex Caragonne and Lee Reyna of Reyna/Caragonne Architects. A renovation began in 1995 and the building was rededicated on July 20, 1996. De Lara Architects, Inc. were responsible for the $320,750 renovation made possible by a 1989 bond election. |
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Cortez Branch Library
The Cortez Branch Library is named in honor of Raoul A. Cortez (1904 – 1971), the pioneer of Spanish language radio and television stations in the United States. Cortez founded KCOR-AM, which in 1946 became the first full-time Spanish language radio station in the United States. In 1955, he established the television station known today as KWEX-TV, the country’s first Spanish language television station. Active in civic affairs, he served two terms as the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and supported legal battles fighting discrimination against Mexican-Americans. |
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Encino Branch Library
Through adaptive reuse of an existing building, the library created a branch that provides community responsive services; a robust collection of books and materials; and integrated technology. The Encino Branch Library is the first with a drive-in window. |
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Forest Hills Branch Library
The branch is named for the Forest Hills neighborhood area in which it is located. |
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Great Northwest Branch Library
The Great Northwest Branch of the San Antonio Public Library opened to serve the people of the swiftly growing communities of Northwest San Antonio.
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Guerra Branch Library
The Library Board selected the name to honor long-time San Antonio historian, author and broadcast journalist Henry Guerra, who died in 2001. Guerra, a San Antonio native, was hired by WOAI Radio as the first Mexican-American announcer to work for a major English-language
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Igo Branch Library
The Igo Branch Library is named for Dr. John Igo, a San Antonio native, well-known throughout the San Antonio theater community for his work as a playwright, director, critic and producer. Dr. Igo taught at Trinity University and San Antonio College for 40 years before retiring in 1993. |
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Johnston Branch Library
Johnston Branch Library is dedicated to the memory of Leah Carter Johnston, San Antonio Public Library’s first Children’s Librarian. Mrs. Johnston established the Children’s Department in 1922, and she served as Children’s Librarian until 1955. In 1927, she created the first children’s poetry competition in the United States. |
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Kampmann Portal
The Caroline B. and John H. Kampmann San Antonio Public Library Portal at the Briscoe Western Art Museum connects community with history by telling stories of the past through digital and print content. Museum visitors can relax in a comfortable living room inspired space to browse iPads filled with historically rich material collected and prepared by the San Antonio Public Library. |
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Landa Branch Library
The Hannah Landa Memorial Library was given as a gift to the City of San Antonio in 1946 by Harry Landa. The Library, located in the Monte Vista Historical District, is named for Hannah Mansfeld Landa, beloved wife of Harry Landa. The Landa Branch Library was the private residence of Harry and Hannah Landa from 1929 to 1946. Four years after her death in 1942, Harry bequeathed his home and the grounds to the City of San Antonio to be used as a free public library and a children's playground. |
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Las Palmas Branch Library
The “original” Las Palmas Branch Library was the last of three libraries to be dedicated at 7:00 p.m. on March 23, 1969, on land deeded by the Las Palmas Corporation. Over time, the need for a branch library larger than 5,800 square feet was recognized, but the land was not available to expand the building on the site near the Las Palmas Shopping Center. Construction began on the current building in June 1993 and the dedication/opening took place in November 1994.
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Maverick Branch Library
The Maverick Branch Library is named for Maury Maverick, Jr., an attorney, a Texas state legislator, and a long-time columnist for the San Antonio Express-News. The library shares the building with a fire station, but functions as an autonomous facility. |
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McCreless Branch Library
McCreless Branch Library was designed to serve as a resource center for residents throughout the Southeast part of San Antonio and Bexar County. The site for this library was donated to the city in 1965. The library was named for insurance executive Gordon Sealie and real estate broker Sollie Emmett McCreless, twin brothers who built McCreless Mall in 1963 and to donated the land to build the McCreless Branch Library. |
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Memorial Branch Library
Memorial Branch Library was opened to the public on May 4, 1981, on land that was originally part of a city park. The organization Communities Organized for Public Service was instrumental in raising funds for the facility. The Library Board of Trustees had originally voted to name the branch for José Bernardo Maximiliano Gutiérrez de Lara, governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and opponent of Texas independence. However, the neighboring community strongly requested that the name be changed to honor San Antonio’s war dead, and the Board subsequently voted to make that change.
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Mission Branch Library
Mission Branch Library was opened on April 30, 2011. A series of artworks created by San Antonio native Chris Sauter can be seen in various areas of the library site. These include a mural depicting the library and Mission San Jose above layers of San Antonio history, two outdoor sculptures embedded with “fossils” and “artifacts”, and cylindrical seating located in the playground.
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Pan American Branch Library
Dedicated just a couple of hours after the Tobin Branch at Oakwell on March 23, 1969, the Pan American Branch was expanded to 9,000 square feet in 1987 with funding from the Community Development Block Grant. Additional expansion was done in 1999, converting the meeting room into the staff area and a quiet reading room. The branch is named for its adjacency to the highway known as the Pan American Expressway
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Parman Branch Library
Master Plan developer Dan F. Parman donated the land in north central San Antonio, near the intersection of Wilderness Oak and Blanco Road to the Library Foundation in 2008. The land is more than three times the size of land typically provided for a new branch , and has been valued at over $3 million, making it the largest gift from a single donor in the history of the San Antonio Public Library Foundation. |
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Potranco Branch Library
Potranco is a co-located library branch inside a YMCA facility. As partners, the San Antonio Public Library and the YMCA are responsive to the needs of the community, providing programming for all ages, afterschool activities, and resources for active individuals and families. |
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Pruitt Branch Library
Molly Pruitt was elected to the board of North East Independent School District in 1984 and served for 24 years. She was also a North East Educational Foundation Board Member and is a parent of Theodore Roosevelt HS graduates. As part of the 2003 General Obligation Bond election, $900,000 was approved by the city toward the cost of the construction with NEISD for a dual-use Library at Roosevelt HS, featuring children’s area, meeting room space, reading areas, conference room, and restrooms. |
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San Pedro Branch Library
The books from the Woodlawn Branch were moved to the new San Pedro Branch Library, which was slated to open in June 1930 but did not open until August. The library, built in San Pedro Springs Park, was designed by noted architects, Atlee and Robert B. Ayers. The 4,000 square foot library building is built in the Spanish style. |
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Schaefer Branch Library
San Antonio Artist Cakky Brawley has designed a suspended illuminated sculpture to be placed within the branch interior. The artwork depicts a globe and two maps that reference the past, present and future of the Library site. |
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Semmes Branch Library
The Semmes Branch Library opened in November 2005 in Comanche Lookout Park and is named for Julia Ward Yates Semmes. The library was constructed with $3,000,000 in funds from a 1999 Bond election combined with $527,000 from a 2002 GO Bond and San Antonio Library Foundation funding. |
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Thousand Oaks Branch Library
Thousand Oaks was dedicated on November 15, 1987 and opened to the public the next day. A renovation was completed on July 28, 1997. The branch is named for the street where the library is located. Due to its proximity to El Sendero Drive, it was affectionately referred to as the "TOES" (Thousand Oaks/El Sendero) branch library by patrons when it first opened. |
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Tobin Branch Library at Oakwell
Oakwell Branch Library was opened March 23, 1969. The site, which originally was part of Oakwell Farms, was donated to the City of San Antonio by Robert Lynn Batts Tobin in memory of his grandfather, Judge Robert Lynn Batts. An expansion and renovation was completed January 6, 1996, thanks in part to funds from the estate of Elizabeth Evelyn Beike. A 2007 renovation brought a new roof, parking lot improvements, sidewalks, new carpeting, interior paint, interior lighting, a new reference desk, reorganization of the staff work areas, landscaping upgrades, a large plaque honoring Tobin and new exterior signage featuring a new name - The Tobin Library at Oakwell. |
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Westfall Branch Library
Westfall Branch was built in 1963 funded by a $10,000 bequest from Edward Dixon Westfall in 1891, which had grown to $75,000 when it was given to the library upon the death of his wife in 1940. The Westfall Branch was the first major branch library built on the north side of San Antonio. It was immediately a very busy branch and at times had a circulation greater than the Main Library downtown. In 1971, Westfall was expanded from 5,560 to 9,410 square feet by the architect, Emmit R. Tuggle, and in 1995, under the supervision of Reyna/McChesney Associates, it was expanded to 11,450 square feet. |
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Woodlawn Branch Library The first library branch opened on August 18, 1925 in the same building as the Woodlawn Ice Company, near the intersection of Fredericksburg and Woodlawn roads. It was often humorously referred to as the "Ice House Branch." It was closed on May 2, 1930. The San Pedro, Prospect Hill, Roosevelt, and Woodlawn Lake branch libraries opened later that year. |
| South Side Branch Library The South Side library was located inside Brackenridge High School. It opened in 1925, around the same time as the Woodlawn Branch, and closed when the Roosevelt Library opened in 1930. |
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Roosevelt Branch Library The Roosevelt Branch Library was built in Roosevelt Park, located at 311 Roosevelt Avenue. The branch opened on August 19, 1930 and closed in the late 1960's. |
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Prospect Hill Branch Library The Prospect Hill Branch Library opened in on September 16, 1930 and was located at 2332 Buena Vista Street. The library was closed in 1969, due to the opening of the Las Palmas Branch Library and the building now services as the headquarters of the City's WIC Administrative Offices. |
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Woodlawn Lake Branch Library The Woodlawn Lake Branch opened on October 14, 1930 and was located in the Woodlawn Lake Recreation Center. Over time, it became commonly known as the Woodlawn Branch, but this was a different location than the earlier Woodlawn Branch Library. It closed on April 1, 1963. |
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Hot Wells Branch Library This short-lived branch library was based in the Hot Wells High School to serve the surrounding community. It opened on March 26, 1937. The closing date is unknown. |
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Latin American Branch Library |
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South San Branch Library The community center was originally built by the USO in the 1930s and sold to the city after World War II. The library operated in this location until the mid-1970s. A fire severely damaged the community center in 1984 and it was rebuilt. |
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Bolivar Branch Library
The Bolivar Branch Library operated for a short time In La Villita's Bolivar Hall beginning in 1955 and mainly used to house government documents. There were plans announced in 1958 to move the Hertzberg Circus Collection to the Bolivar Library but it did not happen and the library was closed shortly thereafter. |
