Above / This image of Moser Tower along the Naperville Riverwalk during an electrical storm always is a reminder of the high energy of Ben Franklin, his inventions and his founding the first private lending library. It’s also used here to remind residents of the Naperville Public Utilities Review Board Meeting at 5PM today, Tues., April 8.
When we received news Sunday that National Library Week runs April 6-12, 2025, we couldn’t resist agreeing that a week “to highlight the valuable role libraries, librarians and library workers” play for all ages every day is a good thing.
Personally, thoughts flashed back to grade school and climbing the steps to the Carnegie Library in downtown Muncie, Ind., where we checked out books and learned to use the Dewey Decimal System via the card file. We had learned to appreciate that our city had been among more than 2,500 places throughout the world blessed with an impressive Carnegie Library. The building was a generous gift from benefactor Andrew Carnegie who had earned millions (billions by today’s standards) in the steel business back in the late 1800s.
In the spirit of April fools, an 11th grade English class assignment comes to mind that included a report after visiting the Carnegie Library in Muncie. That spring we’d been working on term papers and a classmate complained that the page with information he needed for his report had been torn out of the reference book Miss Ryan, our English teacher, had required he use.
Slightly annoyed, Miss Ryan told our class, “They better cut that out.”
And the entire class burst into laughter. And she seemed to wonder why.
Naperville connects to Carnegie
Mindful that Nichols Library opened along Washington Street in 1898, it’s also noteworthy that in the early 1900s, North Central College had been gifted a Carnegie Library, as it was called then, one of only a few academic libraries in Illinois that received funding ($25,000) from philanthropist Carnegie. The building still stands at 10 N. Brainard, now called Carnegie Hall, where it’s used for academic study of computer science.
The original Nichols Library, a landmark building at 110 S. Washington Street, is now home to Gia Mia, a popular pizza eatery. A new Nichols Library opened in 1986, built at 200 W. Jefferson Avenue at Webster Street to serve the growing community.
Library connections to Ben Franklin
Back in 1731, 100 years before Joe Naper and his family arrived along the DuPage River to settle this community, Benjamin Franklin founded the first private lending library with a paid subscription membership in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
More than a few times, we’ve referenced our use of Ben Franklin’s Almanac, a witty (our opinion) collection of “useful tips and fascinating facts” for every day of the year.
As the story goes featuring info for July 1, 1731, on page 96, the first collection of books in Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia was quite diverse. The library reportedly included books on law, natural science, astronomy and mathematics; a how-to treatise for tradesmen; Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Homer’s Iliad; and a dictionary on gardening.
April 9, 1833, is credited with the founding of the first tax-supported public library in the U.S., located in Peterborough, New Hampshire. (Perhaps that date reflects how this week became designated as National Library Week.)
Flip to the page dedicated to April 24 and find references that the Library of Congress was established in 1800.
Franklin will be on our mind at 5PM Tues., April 8
Considering the focus by the Naperville Public Utilities Review Board to examine the City’s contract with IMEA, we think it’s relevant to reference Ben Franklin as we aim to remind residents to attend the important meeting at 5PM Tues., April 8, in Council Chambers at the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle Street.
The April 8 meeting will be broadcast on WCNC (Ch. 6 – Astound, Ch. 10 – Comcast, Ch. 99 – AT&T U-verse) and streamed online at naperville.legistar.com.
According to the agenda, the Naperville PURB will receive presentations from Chris Townsend, Energy Law Partner at CJT Energy Law, LLC; as well as the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST). In addition, the board will receive the report and recommendation from Customized Energy Solutions (CES) regarding an energy procurement and ancillary services strategy for Naperville’s Electric Utility beyond 2035 and provide a board recommendation to utility staff and the City Council.
Naperville Library System
Mindful of the power of libraries and the joy our 7-year-old granddaughter experiences selecting, checking out and returning “chapter” books at her school library, this aging bookaholic rarely visits Naperville libraries. In fact, we’ve allowed our Library card to expire. Considering our preference is reference books and other works that include history, biographies, cookbooks and nonfiction, we prefer to own our books so we can highlight and write notes among the printed pages.
Monday afternoon, husband Jim stopped by Savers on Ogden Avenue where for $3.99 he purchased a used book titled Milton Berle’s Private Joke File. The thick volume published in 1989 includes more than 10,000 of the comedian’s best gags, anecdotes and one-liners in categories from A to Z. Flipping through pages and finding that the book’s previous owner also highlighted and wrote notations on preferred passages, this book seemed to have my name all over it. And there it was sitting on the kitchen counter.
Many of the highlighted jokes, however, are a little too bawdy for posting here.
One of the categories featured in the 642-page volume that reflects more than 75 years of Berle’s entertaining audiences is, believe it or not, “LIBRARIES.”
You’d have thought Milton Berle had visited downtown Naperville.
Among five anecdotes about libraries, Berle quipped: “A borrower called the branch library and asked, ‘Do you ever mail books to people?’
“The librarian said, ‘Can’t you come in?’
“The borrower said, ‘I can’t find parking.’”
‘Jokes from A to Z’ / E is for Energy
Under the category of “Energy,” eight anecdotes by Milton Berle are delightful.
“Two less-than-brilliant men were having fun with a flashlight,” quipped Berle. “One turned on the high beam, aimed at the ceiling, and dared the other one to climb up to the top of the beam.
“The second brain said, ‘You can’t fool me. As soon as I get to the top, you’ll turn it off.’”
Let’s open our minds and consider all smart options. Let’s use our brains for what’s best for all humanity. And wonder what Ben Franklin would say.
RELATED PN POST & LETTER / Attend-Public-Utilities-Advisory-Board-on-April-8
Last Updated to reflect today, April 8, 2025.
