P.E.O. Memorial Library, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

[LIB1243]

The Iowa Wesleyan College Archives contain Iowa Wesleyan catalogs; yearbooks; alumni bulletins; alumni directories; information on buildings, presidents, faculty, some alumni, recipients of honorary degrees, student activities and organizations, the Harlan-Lincoln tradition, P.E.O., photographic material. The Archives also include the C.S. Rogers Collection of Henry County newspapers; the Earl Newsom Collection of John Edward Newsom and Emma Day Newsom letters and papers (1876- 1930’s) related to Iowa Wesleyan, Methodism in Iowa and elsewhere, and pioneer missionary work in India; and a small collection of Mt. Pleasant and Henry County, Iowa, material. Website [http://chadwick.iwc.edu]

Library, Red Oak, Iowa 1927

Library, Red Oak, Iowa 1927 Vintage by markomundo
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Public Library, Sibley, Iowa

[LIB0451] Click on the image to order a reproduction of this postcard!

1908 Morgan Everts Library, Clarion, Iowa

[LIB0347] - Clarion Public Library - In February, 1907, the city. voted through its council, to accept the generous offer of Morgan Everts, then of California, but for many years counted one of the pioneers of Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa, to raise a fund of five thousand dollars, after which said Everts would donate ten thousand dollars more toward erecting and maintaining a public library to be known as the "Morgan, Everts Library." The city voted on this question on March 2, 1907, and the measure carried. Read more here.

Drake Free Public Library, Centerville, Iowa

[LIB0344] - The Drake gift proposal was formalized by an April 9, 1901 letter to 'The Honorable Mayor and the City Council of Centerville, Iowa. Therein the Ex-Governor officially announced his intentions to give the Library to the city. His statement read as per follows: "The undersigned having long recognized the beneficial influence of education on the moral and intellectual development of people, as well as their happiness and welfare, and believing that no greater good can come to the people of the city of Centerville than through the influence of a well equipped and permanent free public library, and desiring at this time of my life to show the love for the city in which I have lived so long and to evince my earnest desire for its future good, I have decided to make the city, through its common council, the following proposition for the establishment and maintenance of a free public library for said city and its people." Read more here.

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.

1907 Public Library, Jefferson, Iowa

[LIB1728]

Another one bites the dust...

Thanks to Edith OSB by way of Flickr, this report about the demolished Carnegie Library in Stuart, Iowa:

"The small town of Stuart, Iowa was on the list of Carnegie Libraries in Iowa. I had the address written down, but could not locate the library in the near-dusk when I arrived. When I went back the next morning, I discovered why: the original Carnegie Library building had been torn down, and was now a construction site." [You can read the rest of the story here]

New use for an old library...

From old to new

First tenant moves into a FD landmark:

Tenants in the new Carnegie Apartments will feel right at home curling up in an easy chair with a good book. That's because their easy chairs will be in the old Fort Dodge Public Library, a 1906 concrete building under renovation in downtown Fort Dodge.

The Carnegie Apartments building is an architectural landmark in downtown Fort Dodge, built with money from Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. [Read the rest of the story in The Messenger /www.messengernews.net] See this post for more info.

Public Library, Clinton, Iowa

[LIB3657]

After the voters approved the establishment of a free public library on March 31, 1902, the library organization ordinance was passed by the City Council at its regular meeting on May 13, 1902. On May 23, 1902, Mayor E. A. Hughes' nominees to the first Library Board of Trustees were approved by City Council. The land where the library is currently located was donated to the city by Emma Lamb Young. Ground was broken on June 24, 1903 and construction was completed one year later in June 1904. The day Theodore Roosevelt was elected to his second term, the library opened its doors to the public for the grand showing. On November 9, the library allowed the public to check out books. [Thanks to the Clinton Public Library /www.clinton.lib.ia.us!]

Public Library, Sioux City, Iowa

[LIB3643]

1915 Public Library, Marshalltown, Iowa

[LIB3577]

The Marshalltown Public library was established as a free municipal library in 1898. It moved to the building at 36 N. Center Street in 1902 after Andrew Carnegie donated $30,000 for the construction of a new library building. The Leise Addition, just west of the original Carnegie building, was added in 1975. The library's current building, at 105 West Boone Street, was completed in December 2008.

Carnegie Library, Spencer, Iowa

[LIB3569]

A newer library has replaced the original Carnegie Library.

Homuth Memorial Library, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA

[LIB3563]

Thanks to Cataloger/Archivist Pam Madden, Vogel Library, Wartburg College for this updated information:

The library was named Homuth Memorial Library in appreciation of a $100,000 gift from the Elmer E. Homuth family of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. The Homuth family had been friends of the college for many years as well as supporting it through their financial gifts. The architects were C. Woodburn & O’Neill of Des Moines, Iowa who were the campus architects. The library was dedicated on May 28, 1959. The cost of the building including furnishings was $293,000 and the building was approximately 17,000 square feet. It was the first time in the history of Wartburg College that the library had its own home.

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]

Carnegie Library, Marshalltown, Iowa

The Marshalltown Public library was established as a free municipal library in 1898. It moved to the building at 36 N. Center Street in 1902 after Andrew Carnegie donated $30,000 for the construction of a new library building. The Leise Addition, just west of the original Carnegie building, was added in 1975. The library's current building, at 105 West Boone Street, was completed in December 2008. [SOURCE] [LIB3076]

1915 ISTC The Library, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Iowa State Teachers College The College of Education is the oldest department on campus; in fact, UNI began as a teacher preparation school in 1876. The university was renamed the Iowa State Teachers College in 1909, and the State College of Iowa in 1961. [SOURCE] [LIB2686]

1914 Public Library, Mason City, Iowa

[LIB2420] Website

1911 Public Library, Fort Dodge, Iowa

[LIB2421]

Library, Ottumwa, Iowa

[LIB2397]