[1] Madison Public Library was created by city ordinance in November 1874 under the persuasion of Mayor Silas Pinney.

The collection increased by 200 after city residents were invited to donate books to the library on its opening day.

The first librarian, Virginia Robbins, was paid $400 per year to "function primarily as a clerk to dispense requested books" and to supervise the Library, while the Library Board of Directors controlled all book selection and arrangement.

There was a collection box with sections labeled history, literature, religion, travel, fiction, and science.

In 1913, the Library opened its first branch in the Sixth Ward on Williamson Street (which would eventually become the Hawthorne Neighborhood Library after several moves and name changes) and opened its second in late 1916/early 1917 in the Neighborhood House on East Washington Avenue.