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i3! HISTORY: Many in GreyrBruce. including Owen Sctlntl Carnegie name graces libraries across Can would use llml moliey int phi- 'r‘ Andrew Antiitago OUR HISTORY I've had a con mt compan- inn down through the years â€" and his name is Andrew Carnegie. The first public library that ventured into at the age of six was it Carnegie building in Charleston. W. Va. it smelled of lemon oil and dust. At library school, we learned that the “best gift" a town or city could have was a Carnegie Public Library. For a while, I worked as a field consultant in Pennsylvania, Visit- ing and attempting to improve the Keystone State‘s public library systcm. And one of the libraries that occupied my time was in die town of Carnegie. Not only was it a public library (built sometime beiore the FirsiWorld War], il had a swimming pool and an exercise track. And then, for nearly 30 years, I worked in Owen Sound’s public library with a portrait ofthe great manon the wall. For all those years and many more. he looked down on what he had begun to create when be funded ids first llbraryin Braddock, Pa, in 1889, Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. His father, a craft weaver who was also an original member of a Tradesmen’s Library, brought the family to tbeUnited States to 1848 where Andrew‘s formal education ended. Asia teenage ‘ telegraph messenger. he bor- rowed books from a private library. When it was cortvctted‘t‘o a mechanic and apprenu'ces’ librarywitli a two-dollar annual subscription rate, Carnegie wrote a letter to the editor of the Pirtsbuigh Di‘pdiLll arguing that the [co should be olimiltut nd I r i . . . i . . . his mantra for the 2,509 public libraries be funded between 1833 and 1929. Andrew Carnegie became an industrialist genius in an era With no federal income tax. In 180i. he retired at’the age of66, selling Carnegie Steel to LP. ' Morgan for half a billion dollars. ' For the next two decades, he lanthropy, nut in“ for public libr ics but inrmnny other prin. acts including e Tuskegee Institute, the C ‘negie lit-m Fund and the Carnegie Eridnwr ment for Peace and even the provision of church organs. Andrew Carnegie Chad in 1919, /\ Captain ol'lndustry and Lhe "Herd of Steel," Carnegie wzl ,tll one time, the wealthiest man in the world, He also had a dark side, I utllles y putting down strikes by his workers including the bloody Homestead Strike at 1892 while also being held culv pahle for the luhrtstown Flood when a darn burst on a holiday lake where the Camegies sum- mered. Hr: first began to fund public libraries in Scotland, endowing buildings ill Edinburgh, Aberdeen and lnvemess befoie enriching the United States with 1,681 of them. In total. the Carnegie Corporation donated a total of $56.1 52,622.97 to free public library buildings world- wide Oftliat amount, 551556.660 *was granted for public libraries in Canada The Carnegie Formula [or public libraries was simplicity itself. An applying community had to demonstrate the need for a public library, then provide a free building site. But most importantly, the munidpality must agree to provide 10% of the dust of the library's construcan to support its operation. And finally, there must be free public library service for all l'ees were outlawed. ‘ InConada, the Georgian Bay town of Collingwood made the first request for Carnegie funds in, 1899.il.n short order, other comtnunifies such as Stradord, Windsor, Sarnia, Berlin. Smlm's Falls, Lindsay, Brandord Paris and Brockville followed su in one ofllle earliest appli- cunts Ctrllingwniltl l’nllmwri .. naiteinniu- ll nth-il- Rm“ 3 designmcluded Besides the library proper and the book- stacks and Reading Room. there should be a gymnasium for young men and one for women, a swimming bath, a camera room, a lecture room, a chil» dren’s room, a recreation rnnm, etc.” _ malty... 25,000. the ada, around the world , Supplied photo The original Carnegie Public Library in Owen Sound. Not every town council was existenca to provide library lead des. Grey and Bruce County commu- amenable to the lure of free ership. And in Owen Sound in Owen Sound’s Carnegie rtity to enjoy the pleasures of a Carnegie dollars. In Orillia, 1504, the library board applied Public Library opened on Febru- Carnegie public library. when opposition mounted as it did in to the town for permission to ary a, 1914. On that date, the the Markdale library opened in other more fiscally conservative seek funds from the fiamegie headline in the Owen Sound Sun lune, 1915 with speeches, bands, communities where book read- Corporation announced "New Library Open and a parade, it was said to "add ing was looked upon as some- The subsequent course of Today." The story read, "Opening honour and dignity to the book what of a trill. events did not go easily, Year of Carnegie Public Library this loving intelligence of the One Drillia correspondent after year, town council debated afternoon marks a period in the province.” asked. "Should Orillia ask Mr. the wisdom of local sup- history of Owen Sound. Carnegie public libraries Andrew Carnegie for $10,000 to port for a public library. Today. the town comes ' graced the streets of Port Elgin, Durham, Hanover; Kincardine, build a free public library? Most Walkerton, Mount Forest, Lucâ€" emphaticallyl think not. So mr formally into possession ofits 326.000 library it would take. of course, taxpayers' dollars to Orillia is a free and independent support such a service without a dollar of know. and even‘leeswater, at a town, owing nothing to any speâ€" â€" and what about the expenditure, but from population of 500, the cial favour from any person or people who didn i use today the town is bound, of Canadian Carnegtes. Overthe corporation outside other own it? A decade would pass I under the agreement years. some Ontario Carnegie limits. Whyshould we now sink before a bylaw lntroduc- . with the Carnegie Trust buildin have been torn down 1 our independence by begging an mg free library service V to maintain it," while u ers have been successâ€" unfriendly foreigner to give us of and creating the Owen Andrew Owen Sound’s new fully renovated. ‘ his ill-gotten gains." Sound Public Library . public libiarywas a ‘ Wherever you travel in North In October, 1855, 102 citizens was finally approved in cameg'e magnificent building for America. you are bound to run signed a charter "to establish a 191 1. its day. Designed by into a Carnegie Publiclerary. Mt-chanit Institute and Library Matters had hardly changed Forster and Clark Architects of And in the good old days, you i 'm in the Town m l\ lien l llrrlvt’tl in t )“if'll sound Owen Sound. ii is still a prime had to be healthy to use them axgll'ltuitlallulu'ltsll " " "ll'.'u”ll;'al";. r. 'ltlfi:‘,"lf:li:iif“'vdi“l” WWWQEZ‘C‘ZSEa. ration, A 7,500 square foot build- ing. its main hall has an arched ceiling and was originally illumi- nated with opalescenl bowls. :reporter of the time stated they “cast a soft glow over the reading tables, fighting the entire room evenly and making reading a pleasure." Owen Sound was not the only tote.” Aforerunner of the free public library, Mechanics Insti- tutes charged an annual sub- scripu'on rate to use its services. Not only was this library senice not free. it did not include women as members until the late 18705. with the passage of Ontario's l-‘ree Public Library Act nf i 832, local library boards came true council for years for a new llbrary building. Opposition on council was staunch with one councillor announcing that he had parked in from o! the public library counting the people who entered. His conclusion" There was simply not a demand for new and improved library iacill~ hill or slope. with many steps leading into Lheirhallowed halls. Unlike the United States where public library Mfl'ViL'E is in seriâ€" ous declinet Canada‘s public library system has never been healthier since the days at Andrew lumsell. Andrew Ami [rage appears Fri. days. t input sin n Ii "mt mi nih nn '2 EBZ‘ZEE‘QQE ‘ Teeswater’s Carnegie library. c.1121 I 4' Supplied photo SUDPIlEd photo out