In July of 1901, W.A. Jones of the Moline Daily News sent a letter to steel baron Andrew Carnegie outlining the need for a new library in Moline. “Our people generally are comparatively poor,” he wrote (without the knowledge of the library board), “Moline being as you may be aware, a manufacturing town, but we have a splendid school system, equipped with as good buildings and apparatus as can be found anywhere.” He went on to say that the community has “an excellent public library” but that it was in “a very poor location, where the patrons are compelled to cross numerous railroad tracks and where a good part of the time the smoke from a factory just across the street pours through the window.”
Andrew Carnegie, who would later gain the title “Patron Saint of Libraries,” was making financial gifts to hundreds of communities towards the building of public libraries. He had sold his Carnegie Steel Company in 1900 for the sum of $225 million, and had in the process created a foundation that would disburse much of that wealth to those in need. In several articles collectively called The Gospel of Wealth and published in 1900, Carnegie printed his opinion that the wealthy were only trustees of money, and that he would consider it disgraceful to die rich. Much of his efforts were put towards the building of libraries, what he called “the best agencies for improving the masses of the people because they only help those who help themselves.”
Before his death in 1919, Carnegie would donate more than $56 million towards the construction of more than 2,500 libraries in the United States and abroad. Gifts of more than $40 million helped build 1,412 libraries in the United States alone. But as Moline’s request came across his desk in the summer of 1901, Carnegie was not so sure of Moline’s need for assistance. The letter written by W.A. Jones’ was not compelling enough, and his request was denied on the grounds that Moline had a number of wealthy citizens who could donate the funds. Luckily, Jones appealed the decision, and on August 31, 1901, the city of Moline received a letter from James Bertram, private secretary to Andrew Carnegie.
“Responding to yours of July 2, 1901, if the city of Moline will furnish a suitable site and agree to maintain a free public library at cost of not less than thirty-seven hundred dollars a year, Mr. Carnegie will be glad to provide thirty-seven thousand dollars for the erection of a free library building.”
At a meeting held September 13, 1901, the board unanimously passed a resolution thanking Mr. Carnegie for his support and requesting that the Moline City Council and the citizens of the city provide a suitable site on which to build the free public library offered by Carnegie.
Finding a suitable site became the immediate question. The city offered a lot at Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, but the library board decided instead to engage Ezra L. Eastman to circulate a subscription list to raise $10,000 to purchase several lots from Mrs. Emma Velie at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventeenth Street. According to the library board, the site was “in the center of the city, running east and west, on a street car line and is far enough removed from the business district to avoid danger to children mingling with the confusion and activity that make the crossing at Fifth Avenue and Fifteenth Street a dangerous one for even grown people to cross without fear for their safety.”
A building committee, comprised of C.A. Barnard, L.D. Dunn, R.C.J. Meyer, O.F. Anderson and William Meese, chose F. Borgolte as architect of the new library at its January 31, 1902 meeting. On October 18, contracts were let with the following companies:
--Peter Peterson, Building, $38,500
--Tri-City Electric, Electrical, $290
--Dan Hartwell, Plumbing, Gas & Seward, $800
--Moline Heating & Construction, Heating, $1,800
--A.E. Froyd & Co, Hardware/Solid Bronze, $245
The budget provided no provisions for the basement or second floor, including heat.
On May 2, 1903 the cornerstone of the new library was laid in the northwest corner of the building, though no ceremony was held. In it was a copper box, 4”x 4”x 8”. The following was placed in the box before it was sealed.
1. A summary of the financial statement of the library at the end of the fiscal year;
2. a summary of the secretary’s report to the city council;
3. a list of the officers of the city for the years 1902-1903;
4. a copy of the Mail for August 30, 1902, announcing the gift of Mr. Carnegie;
5. Copy of the Dispatch, Journal and Mail for September 1, 1902, announcing the gift by Mr. Carnegie;
6. Copy of the Dispatch, Journal and Mail for May 1, 1901;
7. Business Men’s circular of Moline;
8. Sample of each blank and stationary used at the library;
9. “Reading List on Birds” for Bird Day, April 12, issued by the Moline Public Library;
10. Certified copy of ordinance of the city council establishing the library;
11. Certified copy of ordinance of city council guaranteeing $5,500 per annum support to the library;
12. Names of members of the library board, officers and committees, also the statement showing the date of the appointment and the names of the first directors, the first lease of premises for library purposes, and a statement of gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stillman Wheelock.
Committees were formed to provide for fixtures for the new building. When money began to run short, Ezra Eastman was again engaged for a second subscription, and raised $3,300. The Board also hired Henry Martens for a three-year contract to take charge of the building, act as janitor and do the bookbinding.
At the December 1903 meeting the board ordered Peterson to finish the basement except the area under the document room. The contract price was $3,000 and included the lecture room and closet, club and art rooms, director’s room and anteroom, smoking room and children’s room.
The final cost of the building was $65,000, of which $10,000 was paid for the grounds. Mr. Carnegie gave $40,000 toward this amount with the rest coming from subscription and by monies saved by the board from its book fund.
Moline’s Carnegie Library building is a typical neoclassical, Greek revival design, the most dominate style of public buildings of the early twentieth century. Four imposing columns with Ionic capitals frame the central, front entrance, which is dominated by a full-height porch whose roof is supported by the columns. Matching windows on both sides and the central door provide an overall symmetry to the building, which is made even more visually impressive by the projecting center gable roof.
The building’s ornate entablature is typical of the neoclassical style. Ornamental brackets highlight the cornice, with dentils running just beneath the brackets. Below the dentils is a very plain frieze that features round raised circles. First floor windows are rectangular with a plain lintel and no keystone, while second floor windows adopt an Italianate design with a full arch and a simple hooded crown. Exterior brickwork accentuates both the windows and the grandeur of the center columns by creating the effect of columns running from the ground to the second floor. Six pilasters add visual symmetry and help draw visitors to the entrance of the building. A rectangular doorframe with a decorative crown, ionic brackets and an egg and dart trim further invite visitors to enter the building. The only break to the symmetrical window pattern are three contiguous windows on the second floor, above the door, which draw the eye upwards upon approach. The ornamental features, massive scale, use of heavy materials and overall grandeur is meant to inspire all who pass and all who enter the Carnegie Library building’s doors.*
The interior of the building has a large stairway leading to all floors, five large brick fireplaces, which were used to heat the area, and main stack areas at the rear of the building that includes a balcony with marble floors. There was a men’s smoking room and separate women’s reading room. On opening day, on January 26, 1904 (with temperatures as low as 13 below zero) the interior was decorated with smilax (vine) festooned about the chandeliers and with flags and bunting, which with the brilliant lighting completed a striking effect according to William Meese, one of the library board members at the time. Ogden’s orchestra furnished the music with a piano generously supplied by the Moline Piano and Organ Works.
In honor of the gift of Andrew Carnegie, Moline’s Carnegie Library carved his name above the doorway, and sent a photograph to the Carnegie trustees. Moline, the trustees wrote back, was the first city to give Mr. Carnegie such a distinction.
Sources
Articles
“History of Carnegie Library, Whose Cornerstone Will be Laid Tomorrow,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 1 May 1903.
“Plan Picture of Carnegie in Oil,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 16 September 1903.
“Here’s History of 75-Year Old Institution,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 10 June 1945.
Klann, Fred, “Off the Beaten Path,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 21 June 1951.
Klann, Fred, “Off the Beaten Path,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 15 June 1954.
“Moline’s Library Notes Centennial,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 11 June 1973.
“Moline Library Lauds Carnegie,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 26 January 1929.
Books
Bobinski, George. Carnegie Libraries, Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development (Chicago: American Library Association, 1969).
Eiel, Raymond. The Carnegie Library in Illinois (Urbana; University of Illinois Press, 1991).
Meese, William. The Moline, Illinois Public Library and Carnegie Building.
Paulson, Avis M. Moline Public Library 1872-1878: The Founders and the Community, 1990.
Libaray hrs.
Mon. 12:00 - 8:00
Tue.-Thur. 9:00 - 5:30
Sat. 9:00 - 5:00
Sun. closed.