Library History

The Crawfordsville Public Library first opened in 1898. Initially, the library did not have its own building, but instead rented space from downtown buildings, first in the Thomas Building, where the Ben Hur Building now stands, and soon after in the YMCA Building.

By 1900, the library was already outgrowing its small rental spaces, and the assistance of Andrew Carnegie was requested. Carnegie donated $25,000 to the city for a public library building with the stipulation that the city provide the land and public funding for the continued support of the operation of the library. The building was constructed on the corner of Washington Street and Wabash Avenue and was dedicated on July 29, 1902.

The library enjoyed over 100 years in its original structure. Due to existing needs for space and anticipated growth, our current, much larger building was opened across the street on September 19, 2005. The original Carnegie building is now home to the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County, which is operated by the library.

In-Depth Topics

This history of libraries in Montgomery County was undertaken by Mary Early Johnson to celebrate the centennial of the Carnegie Library building in 2002. The history was never finished, unfortunately, beyond 1908. A brief synopsis of the Carnegie building’s history has thus been added to the end of Ms. Johnson’s narrative. Her original introduction and text follow.

The story of a library in Crawfordsville does not necessarily begin with the construction of the present-day Carnegie building whose centennial we mark in July 2002. The idea of establishing a library in Crawfordsville dates to the earliest days of this city.

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