Stack Room, Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

[LIB11067]

1917, Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

[LIB11034] Website

1909 Iowa Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

[LIB1638] The cornerstone for this building was laid with impressive ceremonies on May 7, 1884. For a more comprehensive history of this library click here.

1955 Iowa Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

[LIB893] Sorry, this item is not available as a reproduction.

1910 Iowa Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids, IA

[LIB0147] - "It has been suggested to me that if a certain amount of the funds of the Grand Lodge should be set apart each year, for the purpose of procuring books for the Grand Lodge, a very respectable Masonic Library might thus be collected without the amount expended being felt by the Grand Lodge. This seems to me a subject worthy of your consideration."

The foregoing paragraph, which was our first official pronouncement on the subject of a Grand Lodge Library, is taken from the address of Oliver Cock, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in Iowa (then still a Territory), at the second Annual Communication, opening at Iowa City on January 6, 1845. (In the Proceedings for 1850 we find that the above suggestion came from our first Grand Secretary, Theodore S. Parvin.) - Read more here.

1908 Interior View, Public Library, Cedar Rapids, IA

[LIB3418]

The Cedar Rapids Public Library was established in 1895. In the early years, the library was located in a variety of locations including upper floors of the Granby and Dows buildings. In 1901, Andrew Carnegie pledged to donate $75,000 to the construction of a new Library. The Carnegie library opened in the spring of 1905. Over the next 80 years, there were continuous expansion projects at the Carnegie Library. [SOURCE]