Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Public Libraries of Minnesota
Cities O-Z
Owatonna
Bloom Bros. card.
Still in use, with a branch - Blooming Prairie Branch Library.
Perham
At the time this postcard was produced, this spectacular stone building also served as the Community Hall. It still serves that purpose.
Amazingly, a much larger building, also built of stone, was built to house the Library. It stands about a half block away. The Library is part of the Viking Library System, headquartered in Fergus Falls.
Rochester
Bloom Bros. card shows several pedestrians, including a paperboy loafing against the side of the building. Oddly, the retouching makes the library look like it occupies lakefront property.
This is the 1895 building which was funded by a bequest from Huber Bastian, artist, and a gift from local merchant George W. Healy, with some stipulations.
This building, the third in the Library's history, was built in 1936 - 1937, partially from Public Works Administration funds.
The linen finish card appears to date from the 1930s. It was mailed in 1948. When E.C. Kropp was on, the linen finish cards were beautiful.
The limestone building closely resembles that of 1930s Highland Park, IL.
In 1972, this building was transferred to Mayo Clinic, and a J.C. Penney building served until 1995, when a purpose-built Library building was once again used.
Saint Paul
I debated about lumping this in with Minneapolis, but since its branches are Carnegie buildings whose images I still hope to locate, this is on the non-Carnegie page.
R. Steinman card, published in St. Paul.
Built during the Great War. Electus Litchfield was its architect.
Unlike Minneapolis, St. Paul seems to replace libraries only when absolutely necessary. Looks like a 1915 fire was the only good enough reason.
For plain weirdness, this postcard can't be beat. It advertised Fanny Farmer candies. It showed off the airport, the Minneapolis art museum, the Capitol, and the St. Paul public library. Granted, the images were already in Curt Teich's possession in 1935.
So why not produce an Art Deco delight for a chain of candy stores with them? It's 1935, and business is not that good.
Sleepy Eye (Dyckman Free Library)
I'd like to think my great-great-grandfather spent his last years enjoying this building.
Both postcards are by A.M. Simon, out of New York.
This building is still in use, with an addition. Today, it's yellow.
Front view, across US 14 in May, 2015
Side view, showing a huge addition.
Photographs copyright 2015 by Judy Aulik.
Why Linus? The person who Charles Schulz patterned Linus Van Pelt after was an Army buddy from Sleepy Eye.
Virginia
This card, photographed by Kopp & Morris, and printed by Albertype, shows the hasty replacement for the Carnegie building. It was hardly larger, and has at least one large addition.
Wadena
I have some reservations whether this was a dedicated library building. First of all, the wing at left has only tiny windows, which make me think "gymnasium." I suppose that it might have been an auditorium, but Wadena had 1,820 residents in 1910. Since much of Wadena was demolished by a 2010 tornado, It's hard to tell what other purposes this brick building served.
The postcard was published by E.C. Kropp.
Winona
The card, with an unevenly divided back, was mailed in 1911.
Built in 1899: still in use.
It may look like a Carnegie library, but it's not.
It's on the National Register of Historic Places. Look near the bottom of the linked page.
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