Hayward Public Library - Hayward, WI
N 46° 00.835 W 091° 29.017
15T E 617387 N 5096711
The Hayward Carnegie Public Library was built in 1903 with a grant of $10,000 from the Carnegie foundation. It is located at 10538 Main St in Hayward, WI.
Waymark Code: WM2R29
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 12/11/2007
Views: 56
From the Hayward Public Library web site:
Our first informal library was established by Norwegian immigrants who took up a collection to buy books on American themes in their native language. They also provided classics in Norwegian to carry on their knowledge of their own culture. This nucleus of a library was placed in a public room over the Pioneer Drug Store called Clapperton Hall, the cultural center of the day. *
The first library association in Sawyer County was formally organized on February 26, 1887, and was set up in the front room of the second floor of the Town Hall, now the bakery next to the old "Bank Block." **
A letter dated December 14, 1903, from the Carnegie Foundation stated that a grant would be given in the amount or $10,000 to build a library building provided the local government would provide $1,000.00, per annum to maintain and operate it. The cornerstone was laid on July 27, 1903, and in December 1904, the Sawyer County Record reported that the new "Carnegie Library" was completed. **
The "Carnegie Library" advertised that it contained 3,000 volumes and the reading room contained 14 different newspapers and periodicals. An amazing achievement for a small, rough and tumble logging town. *
The librarian position was held for a term of one year. The salary was $300 which she received in monthly installments. If the librarian was sick or needed a day off she had to find a replacement and pay the substitute out of her own meager wages. **
Furnishings for the library included a long table and chairs for reading, shelves for the books, a heating stove and a dozen or more tin cuspidors alongside the table which the children often upset. **
* Excerpts from the Sawyer County Record, Dates Unknown.
** Excerpts from The Four Seasons, Circa 1985