Marceline Carnegie Library

The Carnegie Library, one of the numerous libraries partially funded by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Library Foundation, opened in 1920. The genesis of the library dates back to 1914 when a reading room was established in the rear of the Marceline First National Bank. The Carnegie Institution approved the community's application for a library in 1917, awarding the town more than $12 thousand; the town of Marceline had to provide the rest. In 2001, the library received another grant from another institution tied to a modern wealthy entrepreneur, Bill Gates. The 2001 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided computers and an Internet upgrade.

In 1914, six years before the historic library building opened, the town's first library opened unassumingly as a small reading room in the rear of the Marceline First National Bank Building. The Women's Civic League donated 300 books shortly after it opened, and Sigmund Steiner, president of the Marceline Women's Civic League, suggested that the club try to secure a Carnegie Library. The Civic League wrote a letter to the Carnegie Institution in March of 1917 and received good news two months later when the Andrew Carnegie Library Foundation informed them in May 2017 that they would provide Marceline with $12,500 for a library building. 

Andrew Carnegie (1835 -1919), an exceptionally wealthy industrialist and renowned philanthropist, enjoyed a complex relationship with laborers and the working class. In 1882, Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick colluded to beat down the striking steelworkers during the Homestead Steel Strike (workers sought better pay and improved working conditions), one of the worst labor conflicts in American history. Seven years later, in 1889, Carnegie wrote "The Gospel of Wealth." In the article, he explained his views on philanthropy: "In bestowing charity the main consideration should be to help those who help themselves." His well-documented philanthropy amounted to $333 million, most of which went to public buildings and community projects, which he deemed "the improvement of mankind." More than $56 million of his wealth went to constructing more than 2,500 libraries worldwide. Though many of his laborers said, "What good is a book to a man who works twelve 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.

Carnegie's statements about the character of many he sought to help have led many to criticize Carnegie while still praising his support of libraries and other organizations. Carnegie would have died an incredibly wealthy man if not for donating nearly 90% of his wealth, and his impact on the development and expansion of public library systems is significant. Between 1886 and 1921, Carnegie funds assisted in the construction of 1,681 city and 108 college libraries in the United States. One of the libraries provided by Carnegie was at the site of the violet strike: Homestead. He returned six years after the strike to dedicate a building that had a library, concert hall, and various sports facilities. He noted in a biography that he always kept the pain of the strike with him, stating, "No pangs remain of any wound received in my business career save that of Homestead."

Communities in later years, such as Marceline, contacted the Carnegie Institution, indicating their desire for a Carnegie-funded library. Carnegie awarded grants to local governments if they could obtain land for a library, pay for the staff and library maintenance through public funding, and assure library services would be freely available to the public; the city promised to provide its share of the costs by levying a tax. After 1910, the Carnegie Library Foundation provided design guidelines for the libraries it funded because stand-alone library buildings were a relatively new building type. Carnegie's personal secretary, James Bertram, developed model specifications and floor plans for proposed libraries, which included a centralized location for librarians and reading rooms. A newly formed Library Board met in December 1917 to select a site for the building and receive bids and plans from architects, which they would then submit to the Carnegie Foundation for their approval. The town purchased a site in 1918, chose an architect in 1919, and opened the library on November 1, 1920. 

In 2001-01, another one of the nation's wealthiest entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Bill Gates, provided a grant to the library via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The library received computer and internet upgrades, and more upgrades arrived via grants and public funds in the following years. Thus, the building's past is preserved, and its future seems secure. Of the thousands of libraries constructed from the late 1880s to the early 1920s, roughly 750 still stood as of 2017, including the one in Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline. 

"Andrew Carnegie." Biography.com. Accessed July 27, 2024. https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/andrew-carnegie.

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.

"History." Marceline Carnegie Library. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://www.marcelinelibrary.org/history.html.

"Marceline Carnegie Library." Marceline Historical Society. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://www.marcelinehistory.org/marceline-carnegie-library/.

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.