Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of Ohio
Cities N-Z
Napoleon
1912 grant, building finished 1913. Currently used as book storage, which seems a little odd.
This is a genuine Blue-Sky card by Curt Teich. The Ripley card below is a pallid imitation, a poseur of a post card.
Norwalk
(L) Not much of a card, I confess, but the message on the back is really something:
This is Mon night and I am as blue as indigo if I had a certain man here (L----) I would biff him one.---If the Lord ever gets me out of Zanesville I will promise him never to come back anymore.Aman.Hattie
(R) C.S. Bateham was the photographer of this view. The German card was mailed in 1907.
1903 grant. Built 1905. Renovated in 1949 and 1982: awaiting expansion since 2003.
Oberlin
College or Public Library: you be the judge.
At one point, this building served both Oberlin College and the Oberlin residents. The college applied for the 1907 grant. First came a 1939 expansion, then the college (Spears) library moved on in 1974. The public library moved on in 1988.
Currently in use by the college's geology department.
(L) This card was sent to Helen Barstow, a librarian at Grand Rapids Public Library, in 1911. Occasionally the cryptic messages on these postcards are wonderful.
(R) Card mailed 1912. Publisher: A.G. Comings and Sons, Oberlin, O.
(L) Leiter Post Card. Notice the suspended clock. This clearly resembles a college reading room. The form of the windows indicates that the room was indeed in the Carnegie building.
(R) Card, from the National Post Card Company, mailed 1939. There is a distinct difference in the layout between the photos. The windows at the right of the card are more Gothic. I think they moved either the statue, or the tables and card catalogs.
Paulding County Library
Another anomalous Carnegie funded library.
It was a 1912 grant according to Bobinski; 1913, according to the Library. According to Paulding County Carnegie Library's web page, it opened in 1916, and was the first county library founded by Carnegie. It is still in use.
(L) Chrome Dexter Press postcard.
(R) Multiview postcard of Paulding, Ohio.
Pomeroy
Pomeroy was featured in the 2009 novel Await Your Reply as Pompey.
Carnegie Library and U.S. Post Office, Pomeroy, Ohio.
'Showing the Ohio Hills in the Background.' Whatever, Curt Teich.
1912 grant. Building replaced in 1989, and the library is now the Meigs County Library.
Portsmouth
1902 grant: built in 1906.
Still in use, but with 1971 and 1995 additions, per Wikipedia (not my normal go-to source).
(L) Yet another Clear View brand card, mailed in 1940.
(R) Interior of the library building prior to occupancy.
(L) The E.C. Kropp card expounds:
'Tremper Mound,' three miles from city, is the source of numerous Indian Relics displayed at the Public Library. Portsmouth is the Gateway to Shawnee Forest and Roosevelt Game Preserve. 'Ohio's Little Smokies,' a scenic wonderland of many hills skirted by picturesque drives from valley to peak.
(R) From the more recent card:
Located at 1220 Gallia Street. Henry A. Lorberg induced Andrew Carnegie to donate $50,000 and this structure built of native stone was completed in 1903. The 'Ohio Room' is devoted exclusively to Ohio and Northwest Territory history. Museum section displays Indian Relics from local mounds.
(L) Private mailing card with vignette of Andrew Carnegie.
Ripley (Union Township Public Library)
1913 grant. In 1937, much damage was done by a flood. Expanded in 1989.
Concise history on the Library's website.
Prairie-style library built by Wausau, WI architects (Hans T. Liebert) and, believe it or not, featuring Rookwood glazed tiles (also seen on Cincinnati's Avondale Branch Carnegie Library). How cool is that!
Salem
(L) Sky-Tint brand post card shows a straight-on view and includes the brick street.
(R) I. Robbins and Son 'IRAS' card, printed by Curt Teich ca. 1914.
Built in 1905 from 1903 grant monies. Expanded in 1931 and 1984. Still in use.
Sandusky
Who says Carnegie Libraries all look alike?
Another card from the Helen Barstow collection:
To warn you I come back empty-handed.
E M Heikin
Late 1899 grant. Still in use, but with branches (not Upper Sandusky), and a 2004 expansion.
Steubenville
(L) Sharp image shows glimpses of the neighborhood and the library building.
(R) This is an I. Robbins and Son card, showing Holy Name Church in the background.
1899 grant, back when you could get away with a clock tower, and all those other fripperies. Opened 1902. In 1936, became the flagship for countywide service. With the assistance of a handful of branches, the Carnegie building is still in service.
Tiffin
Another outlier, with respect to appearance. However, the tower belongs to a neighboring church.
1912 grant. Replaced, but still standing.
Very faintly on the front is the name, Will H. Good. The card was mailed in 1914.
Upper Sandusky
Pleasant Prairie architecture that is not improved by the ham-fisted retouchers on this Kinley Dept. Store postcard.
Although the community still maintains a distinct library, apparently it is no longer in the Carnegie building.
Warren
(L) PCK series postcard, mailed in 1907. The library is flanked by the Christian Church and Danna's (sic) Musical Institute. The last was founded in 1869, incorporated into Youngstown College (now Youngstown State University) in 1941.
(R) Unidentified card was mailed in 1910.
1903 grant. Built 1906. Replaced in 1971.
City of Washington Court House
Still known as the Carnegie Public Library, from a late December 1901 grant.
(L) H.R. Rodecker card, nicely tinted.
(R) Tecraft postcard. from Himmelspark Studio.
Wauseon
(L) Unattributed post card.
(R) Lyon & Co. tinted card shows an orchard to the left. Mailed in 1908.
Late 1903 grant. Still in use, with an addition.
Dormers (Lutheran windows) are rather uncommon on Carnegie libraries. You can't see how deep the Georgian-styled building is, but a basement, two storeys, and three dormers give a lot of apparent space.
Wellsville
1912 grant: still in use.
Auburn Post Card Manufacturing Company card.
Willoughby
Poor quality C.C. Cottrell 'Excelsior' card printed on very thin stock. Mailed in 1912.
Late 1906 grant.
Somewhat of an eclectic building with mixed brick, vaguely Gothic windows, odd ornamentation at the roof line, and a tile roof.
Wilmington
1902 grant. Still in use. However, it has undergone five renovations, one of which was the 1938 Samuel Walker Annex, and another, the 1997 expansion. Like Waukesha, Wisconsin's Carnegie library, the original entrance is no longer in use.
(L) Allen Studio chrome card.
(R) Weixelbaum monochrome card, mailed in 1912.
Wooster
When is a Carnegie building not a Carnegie Library?
Apparently this 1905 library building received Carnegie funding after a fire.
Commercialchrome card showing 9 people posing in front.
Staff?
Xenia
1902 grant. Renovated, 1936. Damaged in the 1974 tornado, vacated in 1978. Damage shown on an Ohio Memory scrapbook page.
NB: If you are ever in a library, and staff tells you to take cover because of a tornado warning, do so. You do not want to be among falling bookshelves and flying glass.
The Curt Teich card apparently predates the renovation. Over the door reads 'Free to the People.'
Youngstown (Reuben McMillan Free Library)
The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County's web site informs us that McMillan was a Superintendent of Schools.
Its Carnegie grant came in 1907, and the architect was Charles F. Owsley, who could never be accused of running off with the money.
Impressive building!
That said, it needed remodeling in 1954, and was expanded in the mid-1990s.
Spiffy 1951 Curt Teich linen finish postcard.
Zanesville
Apparently unfazed by Hattie's opinion. (above, Norwalk)
Late 1905 grant: Still in use.