Page "Birmingham Central Library" Paragraph 6

The first Central Library occupied a site to the south of Edmund Street and west of the Town Hall.

The site had been acquired from the Birmingham and Midland Institute ( BMI ) in 1860 after the construction of their own building in 1857 on the corner of Paradise Street and Ratcliff Place.

The BMI building was to include a library, but under the Public Libraries Act 1850 a referendum took place on the creation of a municipal library.

After the first vote failed, a second one passed in 1860 causing the BMI and the Corporation to cooperate on the joint site.