Dorsey Memorial Library

“In 1936, the Women’s Society of Christian Services, an organization within the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church joined with other civic-minded women in the Black community to found the Friendship Garden and Civic Club. Led by its president, Annie Coleman, the club’s first project was to create a library for the residents of Overtown. Ms. Coleman offered the use of a grocery store building next to her home. That building, at 2059 NW 6th Court, was converted into a library largely through the combined efforts of the Overtown Black community. That first library opened in 1936 and was called the Dunbar Library. In 1938, the facility became the Dunbar Branch Library, as it was now officially a part of the City of Miami’s library system. The needs of the community would soon make that library obsolete, setting the stage for the construction of the Dorsey Memorial Library. 

Dana Anderson Dorsey (1872–1940), often described as “Miami’s first Black millionaire,” was instrumental in providing for a new library that would be named the “Dorsey Memorial Library.” Dorsey, a carpenter by trade, had arrived in Miami from Georgia and made his fortune in real estate and banking. He built many of the houses in Overtown and rented them to the burgeoning population of immigrating African-Americans. With that rental income, Dorsey continued to invest in the land, and at one time owned 21 acres of what is now Fisher Island near Miami Beach. Dorsey’s philanthropy helped to provide greatly needed facilities for AfricanAmericans. In 1937, he donated the Liberty City land on which the Dorsey High School was built. He donated the land to build a new library on February 14, 1940 just 15 days before his death.

The deed conveying the land said this: 

That the grantee (Washington Heights Library Association), its successors or assigns, shall within 18 months from the date of this conveyance erect upon said real property a building suitable for use as a public library and shall at all times keep and maintain said public library for the free use, 9 benefit, education and enlightenment of the members of the Negro races… 

Mrs. Coleman and the ladies of the Washington Heights Neighborhood Association and the Friendship Garden Club began to spearhead a request for donations to enable a new library to be constructed. Their fundraising campaign garnered $2,000 for the building, and the City of Miami donated $7,000 in order to pay for the building and meet the deadline imposed by Mr. Dorsey. The library, suitably named after its benefactor Dana Dorsey, opened on August 13, 1941. The building was used for 20 years, well past the time of great social reforms that sought to integrate the races and prohibit discrimination.” 

Source: 

City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board Designation Report, 

//www.historicpreservationmiami.com/pdfs/dorsey%20library.pdf