Thank You, Mr. Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. He came to the United States with his family in 1848, and started work at the age of thirteen. He eventually made a huge fortune in the railroad and steel industries.

Carnegie was a fervent philanthropist, and gave away 90% of his fortune to many different causes. He believed strongly in the value of free public libraries as a means of self education, and paid for the building of 2509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world. 1679 of these were in the United States. Our local branch library, built in 1904, is one of them. In this newest part of the New World, it's a very old building.

The library was closed in June 2009 for major repairs, renovation, and a seismic retrofit, re-opening on January 9. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the devotees of the library (C included), who were forced to conduct their transactions at the newer central library, which is totally lacking in charm.

I conducted a quick inspection of the work today. Everything looked good, except for a suspended panel ceiling with recessed fluorescent lights. Bleah! I don't think Mr. Carnegie would have liked it either.

Thanks are also due to C. X. Larrabee for deeding the land on which the library stands.