Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Wisconsin Carnegie Libraries
Cities E-K
Eau Claire
An atypical Patton & Miller building, built in 1904. Replaced by the L. E. Phillips Memorial Library in 1976. Respectfully converted, and enlarged, to become Eau Claire's City Hall and Carnegie Library.
Much information on this building's architecture is found at Celsus: A Library Architecture Resource.
(L) Illustrated Postal Card, printed in Germany.
(R) Hugh C. Leighton card, mailed in 1920.
An E.C. Kropp linen finish card, printed for Johnson's Ladder Shoe Co., shows the library in the context of its street. To its right is the older city hall, and the YWCA. Close examination shows that by this point, the street is brick
Edgerton
Built 1905 to a Henry Foeller plan: renovated in 2006. A photograph formerly seen on the Library's web site showed a near-twin addition, with a bay window where the doorway would be expected.
(L) I believe the rather, er, unique view to be a C.U. Williams product.
(R) Possibly an early E.C. Kropp postcard. Since Kropp was based in Milwaukee, many Wisconsin library postcards were produced there.
Elroy
I think that this is a
Massure card, but a third color (brown) was used.
Photo card postmarked 1911.
Photo card mailed in 1910.
Summer and winter study in contrast.
1905 grant, 1908 dedication. Remodeled 2000. Still in use.
This is one of several very similar Carnegie buildings in the state: Durand, Kaukauna, Richland Center, Platteville, and Waupaca.
Fond du Lac
(L) Unknown publisher.
(R) E.C. Kropp linen finish postcard. The Milwaukee printer made quite a few library postcards, but its style is imitative of Chicago publisher Curt Teich.
The largest difference is the flat blue sections. Teich used two different blue inks.
Built with 1902 grant. Its design, by Van Ryn & De Gelleke, is strikingly different than most Wisconsin libraries, but there are neighborhood buildings with similarities.
No traces of this building remain in Fondy, but the current library is quite sprightly after its renovation.
Note: excellent and helpful reference staff, well-organized local history section.
It looks nothing like the self-framed card shown at right, which was mailed in 1909.
Green Bay (Kellogg Public Library)
(L) Tinted postcard.
(R) E.C. Kropp card also shows the Neville Museum.
Built after 1901, utilizing a large ($45,000) grant. Replaced.
Green Bay is served by the Brown County Central Library.
Hayward
Designed by Henry Wildhagen. Built from a 1903 grant. Replaced in 2006. Said to be still standing.
Photo postcard by Winter & Sherman. The light leak blob can be whatever you want it to be.
Hudson
1903 Carnegie grant. The current function of this rather utilitarian building by Van Ryn & De Gelleke is unknown.
If one looks really, really closely, one can see the keep off signs in the lawn.
This Bloom Brothers card has a jobber's stamp on the reverse. 1000 cards cost $3.75.
Janesville
(L) Postmarked 1907.
(R) Attractive postcard shows a dirt street in front of the Library.
Janesville is traditionally an industrial city, the home of the Parker Pen. A GMC truck plant then became its main employer. Today, I don't know who has that distinction, but it's likely to be the local hospital
Come on inside for more information.
Janesville's Carnegie Library was built in 1902.
J.T.W. Jennings was the architect.
Early on, it became inadequate for city needs,
and was remodeled in 1927 and 1932.
K-Win view of the library interior.
Jefferson
Built from a 1911 grant. Considered by some to be the purest example of Louis Claude's Prairie school library design. (Wiberg, on Celsus).
This was a very small library I remember riding past as a child. We never stopped so that I could go inside. The concept of library district boundaries hadn't sunk in yet.
(L) E.A. Bishop postcard, white border era.
(R) Unattributed postcard, mailed 1912.
Kaukauna
Card sent 1927.
Similar to the Carnegie libraries in Richland Center, and to a lesser extent, to Durand's. Even some early UW-Madison campus buildings were built in this style. This example was designed by Claude & Starck.
Kaukaunians don't give you this construction date, but I do, from the Nix site: 1902.
The building is intact and still in use as a library. I don't know whether that saddens or gladdens me.
Kilbourn
If you're not from Wisconsin, you might not realize that Kilbourn preceded Wisconsin Dells: the name was changed in 1931.
However, the public library stuck with the founder's name, and serves three communities.
The Carnegie grant dates from 1912, and the 1914 building serves as offices - after being moved to a location across from the current building.
This photocard is a product of the H.H. Bennett Studio.
