Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of North Dakota
Statistics come from George S. Bobinski's Carnegie Libraries. 8 Carnegie grants were accepted for public libraries. I have 8 libraries on postcards, featured below.
Bismarck
1916 grant: replaced in 1963. Demolished.
It's surprising to see a Tichnor Bros. card published for a western community.
Devils Lake
Opened in early 1910, replaced in late 2003. It's now the Carnegie Lofts, upscale extended stay apartments.
Bloom Bros. card, never mailed.
Dickinson
1908 building. Still in use after tortuous rounds of (probably perfectly necessary) renovations.
Branch Variety Store commissioned this card.
Fargo
Little Fargo saw three Carnegie grants.
James Lileks, whose research, at least, is generally impeccable, states that Fargo College and the Ag School (now NDSU) also had Carnegie libraries.
Not only did Fargo College fail, its Carnegie building was torn down.
Visigoths, I tell you.
(L) In commemoration of the city fire department and the city Carnegie building.
(R) Bloom Bros. postcard, mailed in 1922.
Grafton
Opened in early 1905. Still in use: spruced up in 2014.
(L) Pioneer mailing card, sent in 1907. Note its unusual proportions.
(R) Hanovia brand postcard, made in Germany.
The Library is still in use, but its entrance and frieze are removed, and the facade simplified.
Grand Forks
They're Visigoths in Grand Forks, too.
(L) German printed postcard, mailed in 1910.
(R) Card from the North Dakota Drug Co.
1901 grant. Replaced sometime after 1960. The second Carnegie building in Grand Forks is at UND. It's still standing, but no longer in use as a library.
Minot
In use from 1911 to 1965. Renovations began in 1979, yielding today's Carnegie Center
(L) Black and White Brand postcard.
(R) Commercialchrome postcard.
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I believe both use the same base image, and both were printed by Commercial Colortype Company of Chicago.
Valley City
(L) Commercialchrome post card which looks more like an E.C. Kropp card.
(R) Monochrome postcard.
According to the Valley City, ND Tourism website, this Classical Revival building is one of eleven Carnegie buildings in North Dakota, and is one of the three that remain unaltered. This may be due in part to the fact that it was placed on the Register of Historical Places in 1979. Today it serves as the Valley City/Barnes County Public Library.
Note the number of windows and their size on this card. Originally I thought that this could not be a Carnegie building. The Valley City site commented that this feature deviated from the Carnegie prescription.