Argentine Carnegie Library

From 1916 to 2012, this public library served the Argentine community which began as an independent town prior to its 1910 annexation by Kansas City, Kansas. The construction of this building was one of the many public libraries funded by watching local funds and a gift from the Carnegie Corporation Library Program, part of Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic endeavors. The building is now home to administrative offices of the Kansas City School district after local officials deemed the continued use of this building as a public library would be prohibitively expensive. Argentine is now home to a new South Branch Library which opened in 2012. 

The Argentine Carnegie Library, constructed in 1916 in Kansas City, Kansas was part of the Carnegie Corporation Library Program. The structure survives as a reminder of Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy Gilded-Age steel industrialist who famously clashed with striking workers and then became a prolific philanthropist. His funds helped build thousands of libraries throughout the country, including the Argentine building. The building also speaks to the neighborhood's transition from a booming industrial town during the late nineteenth century into a struggling city saved by its annexation by Kansas City, Kansas, in 1910. 

Andrew Carnegie (1835 -1919) began as a Scottish immigrant and became one of the wealthiest industrialists of the Gilded Age. The steel magnate had a tenuous relationship with laborers and often expressed disdain for the poor, but he also used his wealth to support institutions such as public libraries that created opportunities for all. In 1882, Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick hired men to clash with workers during the Homestead Steel Strike. The violent encounter proved to be one of the worst labor conflicts in American history. Seven years later, in 1889, Carnegie wrote "The Gospel of Wealth." He wrote, "In bestowing charity the main consideration should be to help those who help themselves." His well-documented philanthropy amounted to $333 million (ninety percent of his fortune), which primarily funded community projects and public buildings, especially libraries. Although many of his laborers said, "What good is a book to a man who works 12 hours a day, six days a week?" Carnegie felt that raising wages would not help as workers would probably spend it on better food or drinks instead of what he thought they "needed." 

Thus, more than $56 million of Carnegie's wealth went towards constructing more than 2,500 libraries. Kansas ranks roughly eleventh in the number of Carnegie Libraries built with The Argentine Carnegie Library among sixty-three Carnegie-funded libraries erected in Kansas (several of them are listed on the National Register).

The library name also speaks to the neighborhood's history, once a city known as Argentine before its 1910 annexation with Kansas City, Kansas,. Argentine experienced substantial commercial, economic, and population growth during the 1880s and 1890s before a successful smelting plant closed in 1901 and a destructive flood occurred in 1903. Economic difficulties plagued the town, leading to its merger with Kansas City, Kansas. Following the annexation, efforts arose to develop a library for the community. In 1914, the Seventh Ward (Argentine) Improvement Association requested a $25,000.00 grant from the Carnegie Corporation to build a library building. The Carnegie Corporation stipulated that at least ten percent of the amount of the Carnegie grant must be set aside annually by the recipient for operating expenses, so The Kansas City Board of Education endorsed the request and guaranteed to provide $2,500.00 annually for library maintenance; the library opened in 1916.

While the library mostly maintains its original appearance, a 1951 flood wreaked havoc on the library and the Argentine community. As a result, the interior required a massive renovation, which came with a redesign to accommodate modern library needs. The Argentine Carnegie Library operated as the neighborhood's main branch library until local officials deemed the historic Argentine Library outdated and too costly to renovate. The Kansas City School district helped pay for a new South Branch Library, which opened in 2012, while simultaneously taking possession of the historic building. 

"Andrew Carnegie." Biography.com. Accessed March 22, 2021. https://www.biography.com/people/andrew-carnegie-9238756. 

Bobinski, George S. "Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development." ALA Bulletin 62, no. 11 (1968): 1361-367. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25698025.

Hagedorn, Martha Gray. "Nomination Form: Argentine Carnegie Library." nps.gov. 1986. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/86000919_text.

--- --- ---. "Nomination Form: Manhattan Carnegie Library Building." National Register of Historic Places. nps.gov. 1987. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/b1956f5b-4372-4fb4-b3c7-2b7ae742f6e5. 

Stamberg, Susan. "How Andrew Carnegie Turned His Fortune Into A Library Legacy." NPR.org. May 21, 2009. https://www.npr.org/2013/08/01/207272849/how-andrew-carnegie-turned-his-fortune-into-a-library-legacy. 

Standiford, Les. Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America. New York: Crown, 2010.