A Brief History of the Building of The Slover

1899- The Seaboard Building was built in 1899 as this region’s US Post Office and Federal District Court Building. It later served as Norfolk’s City Hall for nearly 30 years along with several other government agencies and private corporations. 

Over the years, this building has been known by many names: US Post Office and Federal District Courthouse, Norfolk City Hall, Norfolk Social Services, Seaboard Building, and Norfolk Main Library.

2007– The City of Norfolk needed to demolish the aging Kirn Memorial Library (Norfolk’s Main Library) to make way for the “Tide”, the city’s new light rail system.

2007- The City purchased the Seaboard Building from USI to serve as the temporary main library for the city.

2008- The City announced the Batten family had committed $20 million towards the building of new main library for the city.

2010- The City selected Newman Architects of New Haven, Connecticut to be the architects for the new Slover Library.

The library contains three buildings fused into one: 1899 built Post Office and Federal District Courthouse, 2014 built six story tower, and 1930 built Selden Arcade.