Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of Illinois
Cities G-H
Galena
(L) No publishing information, but it is likely to share an origin with a similar Sycamore, Illinois card. It dates between the 1905 grant and the 1907 demise of the entire back postcard.
(R) E.W. Kempter card, possibly printed by E.C. Kropp..
(L) Again, no card attribution.
(R) Tremendous interior scene by Curt Teich (C.T. Photochrom) for E.W. Kempter of Galena. Notice that it had gas lighting.*
Dibs on the square table next to the window.
Apparently the books were shelved according to color.
Neoclassical adaptation of the Carnegie plan.
The Library's site contains an excellently written history of its existence. I would gladly pay 10 cents for a catalogue of holdings!
Supposedly, the Peabody, Kansas Carnegie Library shared the same plans with this building, but it isn't an obvious relationship. Maybe fraternal, not identical twins?
*Despite the fact that so many of these buildings did not have electricity early on, I don't know of any fires or explosions caused by gas.
Galesburg
Its frieze reads:
HOMER VERGIL BACON CHAUCER SHAKESPEARE MILTON DARWIN DANTE ARISTOTEL
(L) Blame the E.C. Kropp Co. for the bad spellings.
(R) Card dated Oct. 1908, but never mailed.
The city post office (the red brick building) is a bonus on the S.H. Knox postcard.
Built 1901-2, the Galesburg Carnegie Library was lost to fire on May 9, 1958.
It was an Italianate building with some odd little portholes on the roofline.
The library's web site called the building Romanesque. I don't. You may. Moot point. It burnt.
Galva
Monochrome card features the original structure.
A 1929 addition postdates this card
Curt Teich postcard, restruck for Wm. Mc Meekin.
(L) Art View card, printed in Cambridge, Illinois. Notice the 1929 addition.
1907 grant: 1909 dedication. Galva's Carnegie building has an interesting blend of styles, perhaps a combination of Tudor and Prairie (see also the Geneva card below) after expansion.
A May, 2018 visit found this library in fine fettle. I was baffled by the aging wire screens installed and overpainted on each gable.
The library staff was nice and helpful.
Geneva
(L) C.R. Childs card.
(R) Ekdahl-Skogdahl card.
1907 grant; about to be replaced (2020). Its interior is remarkably well-preserved. I hope it continues to be so.
Geneva, St. Charles, and Batavia essentially form a single community.
St. Charles' library was also a Carnegie building, albeit more of a 'typical' one. Geneva's is a very attractive Tudor-style limestone building. This looks a little like a ski lodge to me: Geneva was heavily Swedish at one time..
Gilman
(L) Curt Teich 'Photo-finish' card. The code, 115289, does not seem to correlate with the known coding scheme published by the Lake County Forest Preserves' Curt Teich Postcard Archives. Probably not visible to the reader are the stained glass upper window panes.
(R) Curt Teich 'Blue-Sky' card, also coded 115289.
One of Illinois' last grants: 1915. Replaced in 2005. The building was then used as the Carnegie Library Children's Storybook Research Center, but that doesn't seem to be housed there today..
Glen Ellyn
In use 1912-1995.
A mystery wrapped in an enigma, or else in ca. 1925, 1961, and 1980 additions. I think Glen Ellyn really tried to save the Carnegie library, but by the 1950s, the handwriting was on the wall. First the Library encouraged the cardholders to take home armloads of books, then another referendum was passed, then a citizen donated money for its reference room.
After all that remodeling and renovation, was it still a classic Carnegie building?
But wait!
A 2011 Patch article claims that the Glen Ellyn school district headquarters engulfed the Carnegie building. Hmm. There is its building at 592 Crescent Boulevard. It looks like it was built in the 1960s.
Photo postcard with a circled B on front, and DOPS in the stamp box.
Grayville
The women's Shakespeare Club of Grayville purchased the lots at Mill and Short Street in 1912 to provide the necessary site to obtain a Carnegie grant. In 2009, the Carnegie building was replaced by the Groff Memorial Library & Museum, and by 2012, became city surplus. A 2013 Google Street View shows it still extant, but denuded of its decorations.
After that point, I don't know what became of this stunning little Prairie-style building with Japanese touches.
For years, it was thought that the RPPC at left was the only known postcard of this 1911 Carnegie library. Oddly, it was mailed to Canada in 1913.
Then the printed card at right, mailed in 1912, turned up at a postcard show.
Greenup Township (Cumberland County)
(L) The library, resembling that of Adrian, Michigan, is in the upper right corner.
(R) An I. Stern tinted card, with photo attribution to R.W. Couzet, an evident typo.
1904 grant: replaced. The building was reused as a military museum.
Greenville
(L) Photographed by Bond Studio; printed by the Tecraft Company.
(R) Postcard by Art Manufacturing
The Paul O. Moratz building is on the National Registry of Historic Places.
It resembles Fairbury's Dominy Library, and Sycamore's and Paxton's Carnegie libraries.
A 1905 Carnegie grant made this building possible, and it appears from city and library websites that it hasn't been altered one bit. It contains the Bond Co. Historical Society and a noteable genealogical collection.
Obviously, microfilm and digitization are their friends.
Harrisburg (Mitchell-Carnegie Building)
(L) RPPC, clear enough to read
'Mitchell Carnegie 19 Public Library 09'
on the original.
(R) C.U. Williams 'Photoette' card that looks as if the Bloomington publisher should have discarded the plate a few hundred strikes earlier. Did you notice that one of the windows in front was open?
Harrisburg nearly flooded off the map in 1937, and its Carnegie building served as a hospital during its first crisis.
In 1968, an earthquake threatened the remainder.
Dedicated in 1909, replaced 2000. Said to be a church as of 2013.
Harvey
1906 - 1971
Very interesting Carnegie building with traces of Romanesque architecture. And, it had ornaments. Big, honking, ornaments. Fall-off-the-roof-and-concuss-you ornaments. Architect Paul O. Moratz, of Bloomington, did not seem prone to such excess on his other buildings (Sycamore, Greenville, and Paxton).
(L, vertical) Early C.R. Childs card.
(R, top) Locally produced, by the Homewood Photo Service.
(R, center) Curt Teich card.
(R, below) Curt Teich 'Photochrom,' reprinted for the Am. 5 & 10 cent Stores Co.
Honestly, it surprised me that Harvey was able to build a newer library. It's not a city with wealthy residents, but maybe the '70s were kinder to the community. It's nice to see Harvey had its priorities straight.
The newest of these cards was sent in 1944: the lefthand card was never mailed.
The righthand card's postmark could be 1911, 1914, or 1917; all a little belated for an unevenly divided back post card.
Havana
Opened 1902; addition 1937; renovated in the 1990s.
One of the libraries on the Illinois Historical Preservation list.
The library's web site has an excellent history page.
(L) This ZIM card was a hard postcard to locate, and isn't in the best condition. I have no idea what architectural style this building is, but it's quite attractive.
(C) Mason County Democrat card, from a DePue photo. Side view of the building.
(R) Curt Teich card, mailed in 1938.
Highland Park
(L) C.B. Brand card.
(R) H.B. Brooks monochrome card.
Highland Park is one of the posher North Shore Chicago suburbs, showing that it wasn't always the neediest communities that got the Carnegie grants. It was a handsome Carnegie building, designed by Patton & Miller, begun in 1905, and replaced in 1931--one of the quickest cases of obsolescence.
Hillsboro
Possibly a C.U. Williams card,
with deceptively good print quality.
Actually, I like this early Curt Teich
'C.T. American Art Blue-Sky' card
I found a year or so later even more.
Unfortunate portico renovation.
Unfortunate ink selection.
1903 grant: designed by Paul Moratz. The building is still in use.
Hoopeston
1903 Carnegie grant. Built in 1905, with a 1975 addition, it's still in use.
(R) Postcard shows the pastoral setting of the Library.
A Ft. Wayne Paper Printing & Box card with its aluminized border.
Early souvenir postcard. Notice the ghost children in the foreground, and the man outstanding in his field.
On this card you almost can read the notice on the front door. Leaning against the rightmost pillar is a notice for Episcopal Church services. Hmm.