SIMPLE DREAMER

This building was constructed to house the Municipal jail, 1857; made provincial jail when Ilocos Sur became a province, 1818; repaired 1855; seized by the revolutionists under Col. Juan Villamor, 1898; taken over by the American forces who detained in it the political leaders Mena Crisologo, Estanislao Reyes, and Enrique Quema, 1899.
President Elpidio Quirino was born in this building on November 16, 1890 when his father was the warden. This was converted into a library on October 27. 1948 in honor of President Quirino's Mother, Gregoria Rivera Mendoza De Quirino.

Elpidio Rivera Quirino was a native of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur although he was born in this room in Vigan, Ilocos Sur on November 16, 1890, to parents Mariano Quirino Caoayan, Ilocos Sur, who was then the Provincial Jail Warden of Vigan and Gregoria Mendoza Rivera of Agoo, La Union.

Quirino spent his early years in Aringay, La Union. He studied and graduated his elementary education in his native Caoayan, where he became a barrio school teacher. He received secondary education at Vigan High School, then went to Manila where he worked as junior clerk in the Bureau of Lands and as property clerk in the Manila police department. He graduated from Manila High School in 1911 and also passed the civil service examination, first-grade.

Quirino attended the University of the Philippines. In 1915, he earned his law degree from the university's College of Law, and was admitted to the bar later that year. He waas engaged in the private practice of law.