Director

The building has served as the home of the Codington County Heritage Museum (formerly Kampeska Heritage Museum) and County Historical Society since 1970. An example of neo-classical architecture, this building is set on a granite block basement. Pairs of smooth, ionic sandstone columns frame the entrance, and ornate leaded glass forms the windows. The interior is equally ornate with a central dome skylight, brick fireplace, and detailed oak columns and other oak woodwork.

Codington County Heritage Museum 

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji.At first, Carnegie libraries were almost exclusively in places with which he had a personal connection—namely his birthplace in Scotland and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, his adopted home-town. Yet, beginning in the middle of 1899, Carnegie substantially increased funding to libraries outside these areas. As Carnegie's library funding progressed, very few of the towns that requested a grant, committing to his terms for operation and maintenance, were refused. By the time the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them known as Carnegie libraries, as they were built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.

Though this building was never a residence, it is included on this tour as the starting point for your tour, because it is the main distribution point for the tour pamphlets. Built between 1905-1906, it is one of the few remaining ornate Carnegie library buildings in South Dakota. It was designed in the Neo-Classical style by local architect Maurice Hockman. It operated as the Carnegie Free Public Library from 1906 until 1964, and has been the home of the Codington County Historical Society and its museum since 1975. The most interesting features of this carnegie library building are a small dome skylight, fireplace, sandstone ionic columns, ornate leaded windows, and fancy oak woodwork.

Codington County Heritage Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources