Marengo Public Library, Marengo Iowa - Carnegie Library Buildings on Waymarking.com

The Marengo Public Library is one of the libraries that was established with the help of Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900's. In 1903, an item in the Marengo Republican newspaper noted, "Marengo is the smallest town in the country to receive an offer of $10,000 for a library from Andrew Carnegie."

In 1903 an election was held on the library issue. Although women were not allowed to vote nationally for 20 years, they were allowed to vote on the library. the women voted 273 for and 8 against. Men favored the idea 266 for and 63 against, for a margin of 539 for and 71 against.

In 1903, a library Board of Trustees was appointed and work began on the new library. On Dec 7, 1903 the board selected the property for the building. It was to be located on the corner lot on Marengo Avenue and Hilton Street.

On Feb 8,1904 Patton and Miller of Chicago were chosen as architects. On July 6, 1904 Courtney and Bolt of Perry Iowa were awarded the building contract.

After two years of planning and building, the Marengo Public Library was completed. It was dedicated on August 5, 1905 and opened to the public the next day, August 6, 1905.

The total cost of the building and furnishings was $10,683.39 of which $10,000 was contributed by Andrew Carnegie. The City of Marengo, by agreement was to contribute $1,000 yearly for its support.

In May of 2007, after seven years of planning, fundraising, and building, a beautiful addition and renovation of the original building was completed. The cost of the building was just over $2.1 million. The new building contains a community meeting room, state-of-the-art computer room, a children's programming room, an elevator for accessibility, and much needed additional space for patrons and staff.

This information was obtained from the Marengo Library website, and some printouts I recieved from library staff.

Address of Library Building: 235 East Hilton Street Marengo, Iowa USA 52301 Current Use of Building: Still used as our town Library Year Built (optional): 1905 Website about building: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/29/2011 Team Iowian visited it