Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of Florida
Statistics come from George S. Bobinski's Carnegie Libraries. Georgia was split from this page in March, 2022.
I have four cards remaining to locate.
Bartow
1911 Carnegie grant. Demolished, 1998.
Somehow, this building slipped past the requirement for a half-basement.
Commercialchrome postcard, never mailed.
Clearwater
1915 grant. Very late building that began to show Deco influence, but underwent several renovations before the Carnegie building's demise, met sometime between 2000 and 2004.
(L) The card was published by the Hartman Card Company of Pinellas Park.
(R) A Tichnor Quality View, never mailed.
Jacksonville
A whole lot of history goin' on. This is building #3: the second went up in flames in the Great Fire of 1901. Carnegie came to the rescue with a grant in 1902. Finally, this was built in 1905. It was replaced in 1965 by the Haydon Burns Building. That took only 40 years to become outmoded, and was replaced in 2005. The Carnegie Building was rehabbed into offices in the 1980s, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nice litho card by Raphael Tuck & Sons. (RaphoType) that bears a Red Cross stamping 'Canteen Service (cross) Jacksonville, Fla Chapter' on its entire back.
(L) Ocean Street view with the Library in the background, right.
(R) Tichnor tinted postcard, with autos of dubious existence.
Ocala
1907 grant. Demolished in 1968.
Commercialchrome card displays the lovely Spanish style building to its best advantage. If you look closely at the windows on the right side, they are opened from the top. I didn't know an arched window could do that.
The card was mailed in 1934.
St. Petersburg
Now the Mirror Lake Branch. Astonishingly, the 1915 building was recently restored, and it's still in use!
The vintage cards shown below illustrate the ways different publishers interpreted the same building, especially with exterior colors.
Tampa
1910 grant: rehabbed into city offices in 1999. West Tampa's Carnegie library is still in use as a library.
Roy A. Bagby postcard. Did you notice the streetcar to the left of the building?
