Once the Mechanics Society, which was
formed to support the mechanics, artists and manufacturers in New Orleans, was
charged with handling the Fisk library, the books were moved to the society
building on Phillipa Street and everything was quickly ready to go. Finally in 1852 the library was open. Tragedy struck a few years later, however,
when fire hit the building burning it and everything in it to the ground. Over the next four decades, the library was
rebuilt on the same location but it struggled to develop much of a patronage
and slowly the dream appeared to be disappearing.
Mechanics Society Building where the first library in New Orleans sponsored by the Fisk Brothers was housed. Picture from New Orleans 1867
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