A Look into Our Library’s Past

The Crawfordsville District Public Library would like to invite the community to visit our upcoming local history exhibit on the second floor, which will be available beginning August 1. This exhibit will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our building, which opened to the public in September, 2005.

While we celebrate our current building, we would also like to share the history of our library’s beginnings, from the early days of sharing space in other buildings, to receiving a grant for the building of a Carnegie Library, to continuing to thrive and grow to meet the needs of the community.

The earliest library funding law was passed in Indiana in 1816. This County Library Law required new counties and townships to tax land sales and reserve at least 10% of the proceeds for funding a public library. As demand grew for library materials in Crawfordsville, a subscription library was established in 1827 with the help of local contributors, including the Women’s Reading Association and the Ladies’ Literary Society (later renamed the Athenian Society). These organizations held fundraisers to collect donations of books and periodicals.

In October of 1897, the first Public Library Association was created, and the history of a public library in Crawfordsville began to take shape, beginning in rooms of other buildings such as The Thomas Building (now the Ben Hur building) and the YMCA in 1898. By 1899 the library simply ran out of space, and it was decided that Crawfordsville should have its own stand-alone public library dedicated to serving the community.

In 1901, the city petitioned for funding from Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy philanthropist, to grant Crawfordsville the money to build a new public library. Mr. Carnegie agreed to grant the city $25,000 to construct the first established public library in Montgomery County for total project costs, property purchase, city responsibilities (city approved purchase of the land and continued to support funding for free public library operations for $2500/year). The total for the new public library was approximately $24,500, coming in just under the budget of Mr. Carnegie’s grant, totaling $25,000.

The original local architectural designer, W.F. Sharpe & Design, envisioned a Renaissance revival style for the design, and used Indiana limestone blocks (an oolitic limestone quarried from southern Indiana, known worldwide for its limestone). The firm also designed the Masonic Temple, which was completed in 1901, the year before the Carnegie library opened.

The Carnegie Library of Crawfordsville was the first of 164 Carnegie libraries to be built in Indiana, and is currently one of many Carnegie Library buildings still being used in the state. Other previous Carnegie Libraries in Montgomery County were in Waveland, Darlington, and Linden. There were 1,679 Carnegie public libraries built in the United States, with Indiana having more than any other state.

As the Carnegie library was being constructed, other local organizations decided to help with the library effort, including The Current Events Club, The Ouiaten Club, the 20th Century Club, Musical Amateurs, the Artists’ League, and other women’s clubs, which helped the Commercial Club to secure furnishings for the new Carnegie library.

In July 1902, the completed library opened its doors to the community, with 4500 volumes in the collection and library services that included borrowing books as well as a fee of $1.00 per year for services. By 1920, there were approximately 4,000 patrons served with almost 17,000 volumes, and by 1940, that number grew to over 7,000 patrons with a collection that approached 40,000 volumes.

The rich history of the development of the Carnegie Library of Crawfordsville set the pace for other Indiana libraries to follow, and the building served as a library for 100 years. After the library moved to the current building across the street, the Carnegie building was dedicated in 2007 as The Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County. The museum is located at 222 South Washington Street and is free and open to the public.

To discover more about our library’s past and the move to our current library building, visit our local history display, which will be available from August through the end of the year on the library’s second floor.