Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Carnegie Library, Greenville, Ohio


[LIB11250]

Carnegie Library, Halstead, Kansas


On January 23, 1909, Andrew Carnegie responded to Halstead’s plea for a library building by offering $7,500.00 for a library. In February, the city council accepted Carnegie’s offer. No further action was taken, however, until February 1915, when the offer was actually taken up. The City pledged to furnish a site and an annual budget of $750.00.

A site at the corner of Third and Main Streets was chosen and the architectural firm of George P. Washburn & Son, of Ottawa, was engaged to design the building. The contract was let, July 19, 1916, to L.F. Nibelong, of Ottawa, for $6,521.00. Southwestern Electric Co., of Wichita, got the contract for the electrical work, and the plumbing and heating contract went to George A. Lehman. The general contract was originally $6,364.00 but $113.00 was deducted because the board had determined to use an imitation stone rather than Carthage or Bedford stone for the trimming. The building was dedicated April 17, 1917. The total cost was just over $8,000.00. [Website]

[LIB11249]
Halstead, KS City Limits Sign T Shirt
Halstead, KS City Limits Sign T Shirt by city_limits
Browse more Halstead T-Shirts at Zazzle

Carnegie Library, Stouffville, Ontario, Canada


Received grant on April 28, 1913
Received $5,000 from the Carnegie foundation
F.F. Saunders, architect

[LIB11248]


1917, Library, McCook, Nebraska


[LIB11247]

Carnegie Library, Tecumseh, Michigan


In 1903, the School Board applied for and received funding from the Carnegie Foundation for a new building to be located on Chicago Boulevard. The Carnegie Building was dedicated on February 10, 1905, as Tecumseh's public library. The site of the new library had formerly been the home of Benjamin L. Baxter, teacher, lawyer, Regent of the University of Michigan, and an early owner of the Tecumseh Herald. Mr. Baxter died two years prior to the opening of the new library, but, according to Historian Clara Waldron, many felt that the genius of this well-read man was a presiding spirit over the new endeavor. [Website]

[LIB11246]

Carnegie Library, Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada


[LIB11245]

Received grant on March 24, 1906
Received $11,500 from the Carnegie foundation
A.M. Piper, architect

No longer operating as a public library. It has been re-purposed for other use.

1919, The L.P. Fisher Memorial Library, Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada


[LIB11244]

1909, Public Library, Sioux City, Iowa


[LIB11243]

Thursday, March 19, 2015

1909, Carnegie Library, Alexandria, Minnesota


[LIB11242] - The Alexandria Public Library is one of 65 public libraries built in Minnesota with funds from Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Corporation. The Alexandria Public Library is a one storey building that rests on a raised basement defined by a smooth stone water table. The exterior is faced with light brown pressed brick with an ashlar gray limestone base. The roof is a low, hipped covered with asphalt shingles. The Beaux Arts inspired building has nine bays on the main facade and the entrance consists of a three bay portico featuring two fluted columns and four brick pilasters. The emphasis on the entrance space creates a grand opening to the interior of the building and is characteristic of Carnegie Library design. At the time of construction the interior was furnished with quarter-sawn white oak furniture, the majority of which was produced by the Alexandria Manufacturing Company purchased in 1903 specifically for the new library. [Website]

District Library, Carnarvon, Western Australia


[LIB11241]

Public Library, Great Falls, Montana



[LIB11240] - The new public library dedicated on Sunday, November 12, 1967. It replaced the previous Carnegie Library.

Public Library, Richfield Springs, New York


[LIB11239] - A gift of T.R. Proctor.


Public Library, Liberty, Indiana


[LIB11238] - The Carnegie Library building in Liberty, Indiana continues serving as a public library for the community.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

1931, Kennedy Free Library, Spartanburg, South Carolina



Thanks to a gift from Mrs. Helen Fayssoux Kennedy of the lot where her husband's office once stood Spartanburg's first “public” library opened on October 17, 1885, on the top floor of a two-story building facing Kennedy Place in the central business district. Her gift honored her husband, Dr. Lionel Chalmers Kennedy, a well-known and respected physician who had died five years earlier. Among the library's first holdings was Dr. Kennedy's 600-volume medical library and some 300 other books collected by the citizens of Spartanburg. [Website]

[LIB11237]

H.W. Wilson Co., Library Publishers, New York City, New York



[LIB11236] - The H. W. Wilson Company was founded in 1889 by Halsey William Wilson, a student working his way through the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Together with his roommate, Henry S. Morris, Wilson started a book selling business serving educators and students at the university. When it was time for Morris to graduate, he sold his share of the business to Wilson. The H. W. Wilson Company's first original reference title was the Cumulative Book Index, first published in 1898. This was followed by the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature in 1901.

Seth Low Memorial Library, Columbia University, New York, New York



[LIB11235]

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

1917, Carnegie Library, Manchester, Iowa


[LIB11234] - In 1902 a donation of $10,000 was received from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for the erection of a Free Public Library Building.  An additional $3,200 was raised by public subscription.  A site was chosen at 304 North Franklin Street and in March 1903 the Carnegie Public Library was completed and formally occupied.  The total number of books at that time was 4736 and circulation totaled 8744 in a year. [Website]

Monday, March 9, 2015

1954, Koren Library, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa


[LIB11233]

1909, Akin Hall Library, Pawling, New York


The Akin Free Library on Quaker Hill is a historic eclectic late Victorian stone building in the hamlet of Quaker Hill, town of Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, USA, listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic place of local significance since 1991.

The Akin Free Library was a gift from the Quaker Albert J. Akin (1803–1903), founder of the Bank of Pawling and the Mizzentop Hotel on Quaker Hill. The building was designed by the architect John A. Wood and constructed in the years 1898 until 1908. [Wikipedia]

[LIB11232]

Library, Paso Robles, California


1907 The Ladies Auxiliary petitions Andrew Carnegie for funds to erect a suitable building. They are granted $10,000 if the city guarantees $1,000 yearly support for the library. The Trustees agree. Plans by architect W. H. Weeks of Watsonville are adopted and a construction contract is awarded to R. O. Summers of San Jose. Work begins in November. 1908 The cornerstone of the Carnegie Library is laid on January 28. The old library is now home to the Historical Society. A new library building was opened 1995.

[LIB11231]

Library Interior, Mosinee, Wisconsin



[LIB11230]

Library Interior, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California


[LIB11228] - Following the 1906 resignation of Charles Hodges as University architect, the Beaux Arts-trained firm of John Bakewell and Arthur Brown Jr. was selected to design the new library and a new quadrangle adjacent to the Main Quadrangle.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Bernards Library Interior, Basking Ridge, New Jersey


[LIB11227] -  Records have indicated that the Basking Ridge Library Company housed its collection at the School House, known as the Brick Academy, for it was these same men who funded construction of this building in 1809 who were the founders of the Basking Ridge Library Company. A paper researched by Mariana M. Gibson, library director in the 1960s, maintains the library company actively flourished through Dr. Finley's regime or until 1817, as stock was issued to Joel Dayton in 1811, and book purchases in the name of the company are on record in 1815. The library company is mentioned twice in land sales during this time. Also recorded is a building mortgage of $250, dated April 2, 1810, by the trustees of this corporation to the trustees of the Basking Ridge Congregation (Presbyterian Church). People from Vealtown (Bernardsville) who attended church in Basking Ridge borrowed books from this library.  [Website]

Library, Ashby, Massachusetts


[LIB11226] - Website

1908, Library, Alexandria, Indiana


[LIB11225] - Located at 117 E. Church St., the library was built in 1902 and donated to the community by Andrew Carnegie.  [Website]

1930, Chapman Memorial Library, Milwaukee-Downer College, Appleton, Wisconsin


[LIB11224] - Milwaukee-Downer College was a pioneering women's college in the Midwest, with roots dating back to the 1850s. It was formed in 1895 with the consolidation of two women's colleges: Milwaukee College and Downer College of Fox Lake, Wis. Milwaukee College had been founded in 1851 as the "Milwaukee Normal Institute and High School," with the guidance of Catharine Beecher, a leading proponent of women's education. Wisconsin Female College was founded in Fox Lake in 1855; its name was changed to Downer College in 1889 in honor of trustee and benefactor Judge Jason Downer. [Website]

Library Interior, Misericordia College, Dallas, Pennsylvania


[LIB11223] - Misericordia University is a Catholic, liberal arts-based, co-educational university. It was founded in 1924 as College Misericordia and it is sponsored by the Religious Sisters of Mercy.