One of the most beautiful buildings in Minneapolis is the Pillsbury branch library, erected In 1903, and is occupied by the East Side branch of the public library. It is located at University Av. and 1st Av. S. E. This structure represents a long-considered plan of the late John Pillsbury for the erection of a public library for the special benefit of the “East Side” where he lived during his half century of residence in Minneapolis. The building is of white marble 90 feet long by 70 feet in depth, entirely fire proof and adapted perfectly to the modern ideas of a circulating and reference library. It is beautifully finished in mahogany, and is furnished with handsome mahogany furniture and the most modern steel book-stacks. Beside the regular reading room, reference room, children’s room and delivery room there Is also a very comfortable audience hall. The cost of the building was about $75.000.
-Hudson’s Dictionary of Minneapolis,1915
