The following list of Carnegie libraries in Pennsylvania provides detailed information on United StatesCarnegie libraries in Pennsylvania, where 59 public libraries were built from 27 grants (totaling $5,169,587) awarded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1886 to 1917. Notably, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania contains the first Carnegie libraries ever donated by the philanthropist, owing to his personal connection to the Pittsburgh area. Architectural Critic Patricia Lowry calls them "Pittsburgh's most significant cultural export".[1]
Five out of the first seven, six of the first ten, and seven of the first twelve libraries that Carnegie commissioned in America are in Allegheny County. Also, eleven of the first fourteen Carnegie funded libraries to open in America were in Allegheny County. In all, 19 libraries were commissioned in the county and several of them are more than just libraries but are cultural centers as well.
Also among the libraries built were 25 in Philadelphia which are listed separately. In addition to public libraries, academic libraries were built for 9 institutions, more than any other state. These grants totaled $441,000. In addition Carnegie founded two entire colleges in Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute of Technology and Margaret Morrison College for Women. Both are today part of Carnegie Mellon University.
Key
Building still operating as a library Building standing, but now serving another purpose Building no longer standing Building listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The first Carnegie Library in the US to be commissioned and the second to open. Dedicated by Carnegie and U.S. President Benjamin Harrison on February 20, 1890. Also houses the first Carnegie Hall in the US, which is now used by the New Hazlett Theater. And starting in 2017, the library space is being renovated and being turned into the Museum Lab, which is a part of the Children's Museum across the street, and will open in April 2019.
The first Carnegie Library in the US to open and the second to be commissioned. Dedicated by Carnegie and U.S. President Benjamin Harrison on March 30, 1889. Originally, it was not a publicly supported library but was fully funded by the Carnegie Steel Co. and governed by its officials. The first of four such libraries in the US to be fully endowed. An 1893 expansion doubled the size of the building and includes the third Carnegie Music Hall in the US, a Gymnasium, and a swimming pool (currently out of use).
The seventh Carnegie Library in the USA commissioned and the third to be fully endowed. Opened May 1, 1901. Official name: Andrew Carnegie Free Library. Of the 2,509 libraries built by Andrew Carnegie, it was the only public library granted permission to use both his first and last names. In addition to the library, it includes a 788-seat Music Hall, 140-seat Lecture Hall, Civil War Museum, and a small in-town park.[19]
C.C. Mellor Memorial Library, opened September 1, 1916. Named for Charles C. Mellor, one of the original trustees, appointed by Andrew Carnegie, of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
The sixth Carnegie Library in the US to be commissioned and the second to be fully endowed. Opened November 5, 1898. It was the 7th to open—the Lawrenceville branch of Pittsburgh, commissioned at the same time as its main branch, opened 6 months earlier. Also contains a Carnegie Music Hall, a lecture hall, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, and a bowling alley.
The third Carnegie Library commissioned in the US and the first to have multiple branches. Main library dedicated November 5, 1895, at which time Carnegie announced an additional gift to enlarge the building. The mammoth structure in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh contains the Main Library, Carnegie Music Hall (the fourth to open in the USA), Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Carnegie Museum of Art.
Opened 1905, demolished in the 1960s. In 1967 a new Carnegie library opened at a different location in East Liberty. That structure was renovated in 2010 by Edge Studio.
Opened 1910, it was not part of Carnegie's original grant to Pittsburgh but part of a later gift. It's the last library Carnegie built in the city of Pittsburgh and is much bigger than a typical branch building. It's the library featured in episodes of the PBS show Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Includes 300-seat auditorium. Renovated 2004.
Opened May 10, 1898. The 6th Carnegie Library to open in the US, it was the first 'self-service' library using an open-stacks policy. It was planned so one librarian could oversee the entire operation with a circulation desk flanked by turnstiles that admitted readers to the open stacks one at a time. Also the first library to have a room for children. The reading rooms were separated by walls that became glass partitions above waist level—under the watchful eye of the librarian.[1][22]
Opened January 31, 1899. The eighth Carnegie funded library to open in America. It was Carnegie's second library (after Lawrenceville branch) to have open shelves for patrons and second neighborhood branch—which he scaled down considerably from the huge structures built as central libraries and cultural centers such as Braddock, Allegheny, Homestead, and Pittsburgh Main Branch.
1 2 3 4 "The Carnegie Libraries:Philadelphia County". The Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2010-09-16. Germantown:Original now a senior citizens center Greenwich Branch (Original razed) Ritner's Children's (No longer in existence) Spring Garden Branch (Razed) Wissahickon Branch (Razed)
↑ "FLP:Lillian Marrero Branch". FLP Web Site. Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2010-09-15. Lillian Marerro Branch, 601 West Lehigh Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19133-2228
↑ "Branch renamed for Lillian E. Marrero-Rios (1956–2005), a librarian at this branch for many years."
↑ "FLP:Nicetown Branch)". FLP Web Site. Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2010-09-17. On June 29, 1917, a new library funded by Andrew Carnegie was opened at 1715 Hunting Park Avenue, near Wayne Avenue. The 12th library in the Free Library system, it kept the name 'Nicetown.'
↑ "FLP:Nicetown Branch (Note modern building)". FLP Web Site. Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2010-09-17. The present library, now named for both communities, opened in a remodeled Linton's restaurant on April 16, 1961. It was located at the intersection of Broad Street, Erie and Germantown Avenues – now a transportation hub with a Broad Street subway station.
↑ "FLP:Donatucci Branch". FLP Web Site. Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2010-09-17. Thomas F. Donatucci, Sr.: The Donatucci Branch (known as the Passyunk Branch until 2004) has been a vibrant and evolving institution since 1914.
1 2 At various times, Bobinski and Jones disagree on these numbers. In these cases, Jones' numbers have been used due to both a more recent publication date and a more detailed gazetteer of branch libraries, which are often where the discrepancies occur.
↑ Grants for multiple libraries (Pittsburgh) are listed only by their total amount, not broken down for each branch.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main branch is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city. Like hundreds of other Carnegie libraries, the construction of the main library, which opened in 1895, and several neighborhood branches, was funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. The Pittsburgh area houses the first branches in the United States.
West Kensington is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is north of Olde Kensington. The Market Frankford El above Front Street forms the line between West Kensington and Kensington. Its bordering neighborhoods are Kensington to the east, Hartranft to the west, and Olde Kensington to the south. It is bounded by Front Street to the east, 6th Street to the west, Cecil B. Moore Avenue to the south and Lehigh Avenue to the north. It falls into the 19122 and 19133 ZIP codes.
The Montour Trail is a multi-use recreational rail trail near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was formerly the Montour Railroad.
Hartranft is a neighborhood in the central part of North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Nicetown–Tioga is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. It comprises two smaller, older neighborhoods, Nicetown and Tioga, although the distinction between the two is rarely emphasized today. The name "Nicetown" is often simply used to refer to any part of Nicetown–Tioga.
Longfellow, Alden & Harlow, of Boston, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the architectural firm of Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. (1854–1934), Frank Ellis Alden (1859–1908), and Alfred Branch Harlow (1857–1927). The firm, successors to H. H. Richardson, continued to provide structures in the Romanesque revival style established by Richardson that is often referred to as Richardsonian Romanesque.
References
Anderson, Florence (1963). Carnegie Corporation Library Program 1911–1961. New York: Carnegie Corporation. OCLC1282382.
Bobinski, George S. (1969). Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development. Chicago: American Library Association. ISBN0-8389-0022-4.
Jones, Theodore (1997). Carnegie Libraries Across America. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN0-471-14422-3.
Miller, Durand R. (1943). Carnegie Grants for Library Buildings, 1890–1917. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York. OCLC2603611.
Note: The above references, while all authoritative, are not entirely mutually consistent. Some details of this list may have been drawn from one of the references without support from the others. Reader discretion is advised.
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