1927 Beaux Arts Library Now the Linn-Henley Research Library
2100 Park Place, Birmingham, AL 35203
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public library access.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Four-story historic library building
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1927 · Birmingham's first free-standing central library · Beaux Arts building by Miller, Martin & Lewis · Ezra Winter murals
The Birmingham Public Library was established in 1886 by John Herbert Phillips, superintendent of education, who set aside a small collection of books for teachers and students in a room adjacent to his downtown office in the Wright Building on Third Avenue North. In 1891 the facility was reorganized as a subscription library for the general public, charging users two dollars per year. By 1902 the main library held approximately 10,000 volumes with a monthly circulation of about 1,500 items.
In 1904 the library was moved into space inside the new Birmingham City Hall on Fourth Avenue North. The library remained there until April 1925, when a fire destroyed City Hall's top floor and the central library was a near-total loss. Libraries throughout the United States sent books to help rebuild the collection. Local citizens raised funds to construct the city's first free-standing central library.
The new library opened on April 11, 1927. The four-story Beaux Arts building was designed by Birmingham architects Miller, Martin & Lewis and cost approximately $750,000 to construct. It was widely regarded as a model public library facility for its time and featured a grand interior, including murals by American muralist Ezra Winter.
The 1927 building serves today as the Linn-Henley Research Library, housing the system's archival and rare-book collections, alongside the modern central library building. The library system as a whole holds nearly one million books and more than 30 million archival documents - the largest library system in Alabama.
Sources
The 1927 library building's haunted reputation centers on its early benefactors and longtime staff. Local Birmingham tradition holds that a presence interpreted as one of the library's early administrators occasionally appears in the historic reading rooms - a strand of lore distinct from any documented person and treated by visitors as a friendly extension of the building's institutional history.
Reports collected through the building's long operating life include sounds resembling footsteps in unoccupied reading rooms after closing, occasional repositioning of books in the historic stacks, and the sense of being watched in the upper-floor archive areas. These reports are typical of long-operating historic libraries and do not involve any threatening phenomena.
The Linn-Henley Research Library is the active archival branch of the Birmingham Public Library system. Visitors should approach the building as the working research facility it is and treat the ghost tradition as part of its institutional character.
Visit the 1927 Beaux Arts library building, now the Linn-Henley Research Library of the Birmingham Public Library system. Self-guided exploration of the Tudor Hall, Ezra Winter murals, and historic reading rooms is encouraged.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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