The Mechanics' Institute building houses the oldest library on the West Coast and one of the oldest chess clubs in the United States. It was organized in 1854 when San Francisco was a frontier community far removed from anywhere by a small group of citizens as a center for adult technical education. For five years, gold was the economic backbone of the town, but the ore of the Sierra placers began to run out. Shipping and trade were in a state of decline and at one point, one half of the city's population was unemployed.   Residents looked to agriculture and manufacturing as a way of reviving the economy. The Institute organized initial interest in the industrial development of California, and exerted a strong influence on the early life of San Francisco. At the time, the United States was still an agricultural-based country, and industry was in an early stage of development. No school system in the Bay Area had any provision for technical education necessary for economic resurgence.
(Reproduced to the right is the inside cover of the 1897 annual report.)

     The first meeting of the Mechanics' Institute was held on December 11, 1854 and the organization was formed as a stock company. Any person could become a proprietary member by purchasing stock at $25.00 per share and by paying $3.00 quarterly dues.   Subscribing members could pay $5.00 plus $3.00 quarterly dues, but they had no interest in the property and no voting rights. The Institute was incorporated on April 24, 1855 and this date is considered its founding date. The constitution of the Institute set forth "the establishment of a library and reading room" as an objective. In its early days, the Mechanics' Institute was an important center for adult education in the city, and the hub for social and cultural activities. Six months after the initial meeting, the Institute's first location was established in a $25-per-month room on the fourth floor of the Express Building on the northeast corner of Montgomery and California Streets. The Institute's highest priorities were: increasing membership, accumulating a book collection, planning classes for mechanics and supplying technical education at the lowest possible cost, discussing projects for the promotion of industries, and obtaining a building of its own. At the first annual meeting of the Institute in March 1856, the president reported on the success of the lecture series on technical and cultural subjects and the viability of the debating society among institute members. It was announced that there were 487 volumes in the Library collection and cash on hand amounted to $21.49 . In 1857, all quarterly dues were reduced from $3.00 to $1.50 .

     The idea of a mechanics' and manufacturers' fair took shape as a means of promoting local industry and winning new members for the Institute.  James Lick donated the free use of a block of land that he owned on Montgomery Street between Sutter and Post. Money was borrowed and a pavilion costing $7,000 was erected in the block. The fairs were a place "where inventions, manufactures, and products of all kinds could cheaply and effectually be brought to the notice of the capitalist or consumer."   Every kind of fabricated article that was produced or obtainable in the community was displayed. Awards, a diploma, and a certificate of merit were presented to the winning exhibitors in each of the forty five classifications. California artists displayed their works and there was a band concert every evening. The fair was open for nineteen days, and it netted the Institute $2,784 . A total of thirty two fairs took place from 1857 until 1899.

    In spring 1858, the Institute moved to larger quarters on Montgomery Street between California and Pine.   By this time, there were 900 well used books in the collection and the vocational classes were well attended.   If the fair produced a profit, the funds were applied to support the educational activities of the Institute. For its first annual fair, the Institute had $300 to begin the project.  In 1859, the discovery of silver in Nevada was good news for San Francisco. The city became the supplier of goods of every kind for the mines and towns. The Civil War encouraged the establishment or expansion of industries in San Francisco. This was because San Francisco's normal communications with the East were interrupted, the state population was growing, shipping rates and risks increased on account of raiding vessels of the South that were off the California coast. The economic expansion led to greater need for the education of mechanics and mounting interest in new industrial and engineering techniques.

     In 1863, the Institute purchased its first real property, a lot on California Street between Kearny and Montgomery.   By this time, the library collection amounted to some 5,000 volumes. San Francisco entered a period of prosperity in 1865 that, with only one interruption, was to last until the mid 1870s. Its industries were producing a wide range of goods that were previously imported from the Atlantic Coast. During this period of buoyant business activity, Californians took out more patents than residents of any other state. Most patents covered mining, agricultural, and milling machinery. San Francisco was the industrial heart of the state and the Institute's activities expanded during this wave of economic prosperity.

      Since that time, the subject coverage of the collections has broadened to meet the interests of an increasingly diverse membership.   The resources continued to grow along with the rapid industrial growth of California. Even in the Depression year 1932, a total of some 254,000 volumes represented the largest number of books the Library had had up to that time.