Ashtabula County District Library, Ashtabula, Ohio
Posted by: 
boatchick
N 41° 52.054 W 080° 47.042
17T E 517922 N 4635095
The Ashtabula Carnegie library is the headquarters of the County library system.
Waymark Code: WM4W1A
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 10/04/2008
Views: 16
As is often the case, the history of library service in Ashtabula began with a subscription library. The subscription library dates back to 1813, and by 1896, the association had incorporated as the Ashtabula Free Public Library. Their collection was kept in at the Neptune Hose Company. The library requested and received a grant from Andrew Carnegie. In 1903, the building on 44th Street, designed by local architect John Wilson, was opened to the public. The two story building was built of buff and grey brick.
In the 1950s, this library became the county district library, and several branch libraries joined the Ashtabula County library system. An addition was added to the back of the building in 1958. A new entrance and elevator were added to the side of the building in 1984. (This is probably when the front entrance was closed.) Disaster struck during a 1990 renovation product, when fire destroyed the second floor. Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene mentioned the loss of 4000 books as a public interest story. As a result, 30,000 books were donated to the Ashtabula library from around the country. The damage was repaired, the renovations were complete, and the library was reopened in 1992. The expanded Carnegie library continues in its role as the headquarters of the Ashtabula County Library system.