Lucky Crane

I’m not sure what I believe about the afterlife but I sure hope that Thomas Crane can look down from wherever he is and see what his son did.  In 1880, six years after Thomas’s death, his son, Albert Crane, sent a surprising letter to the Selectmen of Quincy, including Charles Francis Adams (John Adams grandson) stating that his family wanted to “erect a memorial” to their father.  

photo from waymarking.com

Even though Albert, one of Thomas’s eight children, had never lived in Quincy he wrote that his father had held onto “a strong feeling for the town of Quincy” where his family had lived for over a century.  Albert suggested that they build a memorial in the center of town called “Crane Memorial Hall” that would include a library.  It is possible that the soaring costs of the building eventually led to the elimination of sections of the building and the decision was made to make the memorial a library.
Thomas Crane left Quincy for New York City when he was 26 and made his fortune in building and real estate.  He eventually became the owner of his own stone yard and, after a NYC fire in 1835, watched his Quincy Granite become a hot commodity.  The granite trade grew and so did Crane’s wealth and prominence.  He helped build NY Custom House and the old Grand Central Station.  When Crane died in 1875 he had amassed a fortune.  Which is probably why Albert had $20,000 to spend on a library and an endowment AND he also had an architect in mind:  H.H. Richardson.  Richardson set to work to create one of his most successful buildings of his career (see yesterday’s post ‘Best Loved Buildings’).  The library opened to the residents of Quincy in 1882.
As Quincy grew the Crane family’s support matched it.  The family funded the first renovation in 1908, designed by William M. Aiken.   They pitched in again in the 1930s to fund a major addition by architects Paul and Carroll Coletti and the money even held out to provide the initial funding for the 2001 CBT addition!  I certainly hope the fortune made it through the recent financial disaster unscathed (and not just for the library’s sake).  
Thomas Crane never saw the library built in his name and I wonder what he would make of its greatness.  I think that he would be enormously proud of his legacy in Quincy.  It is an exquisite building, designed by a gifted architect and could never be recreated.  But the real beauty of a ‘library as memorial’ is the joy, learning and enlightenment that has been given to all the people that have walked through its great doors in the last 130 years and continue to do so everyday.  We should all be so lucky.
*I was so grateful to find the “The Crane Library” by L. Draper Hill, Jr. (published in 1962) as a PDF online.  It is so exciting to find authentic historical accounts from primary document that reveal the personal stories behind the creation of great institutions.