Public Library, Virginia City, Montana

 

LIB328614

Public Library, Great Falls, Montana

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

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Carnegie Library,Bozeman, Montana

[LIB4882] - Steel baron Andrew Carnegie viewed public libraries as a key agent of self improvement and donated roughly $41 million for the construction of 1,679 public libraries between 1886 and 1917. The Bozeman Classical Revival landmark, one of seventeen Carnegie libraries erected in Montana, was constructed to meet the needs of a growing population and elevate the moral character of the community. Small libraries had existed in Bozeman since 1872, but by 1900 the city’s accommodations were woefully inadequate. To rectify the situation, librarian Bell Chrisman urged the city to seek Carnegie funding. On March 14, 1902, the philanthropist agreed to provide $15,000 for the building in return for “a suitable site” and the city’s pledge of $1,500 yearly support. Despite local controversy, reform-minded citizens located the new facility directly across the street from the town’s red light district in part as an incentive to improve those disreputable surroundings. To this end, architect C. S. Haire designed Bozeman’s library to resemble an ancient temple with a symmetrical Greek cross plan. The elaborate main entrance features Roman Doric columns supporting a formidable triangular pediment. In the shadow of this impressive edifice, the red light district eventually disappeared. The structure served as the community library until 1980 and then was utilized as city offices. In 1998, the building underwent extensive restoration by owners Michael E. Wheat and Michael D. Cok. [http://montanahistorywiki.pbworks.com]

Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Montana

[LIB4881] - New library to be built in Billings, Montana

Billings, Montana, will get a new library because 57 percent of voters there approved a $16 million bond referendum on Tuesday.

The Parmly Billings Library Foundation has already raised $5 million in private donations (including a $2 million anonymous donation) to help finance the new 66,000-square-foot Parmly Billings Library, which will replace a 56-year-old building in which the library has 46,000 square feet.

The Billings Gazette reported that the unofficial result was 17,181 in favor of the bond and 13,023 against it. A previous bond issue in 2002 lost 55 to 45 percent.

"This is going to be something amazing for this city," Leslie Modrow, development director for the library foundation, told the Gazette. The new library may open in late 2013.

1907 Hearst Free Library, Anaconda, Montana

[LIB1416] - "In a commanding position on Main Street, with lines of impressive, classical beauty stands the Hearst Free Public Library, a gift to the people of Anaconda from Mrs. Phoebe Hearst. The first impression one receives is of massive substantiality, an effect which is heightened by the strikingly Grecian purity of outline and the almost severe use of ornamentation which by itself would give an impression of stiffness were it not for the graceful strength imparted to the design by the great spreading arches of the windows. The building is one of the best type of library structure, and has not its equal in Montana; it will compare favorably with any public building in the West."
-- Anaconda Standard, June 12, 1898

Downtown Dillon, Montana, 1942 Photograph - Beautiful 16"x20" Photographic Print