By Kathy Krause

In mid-1899, the Library Board of Directors of the Monday Club of Prescott requested a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation in the sum of "$10,000 or even $8,000" in order to build a public library. The Foundation agreed to supply "the last half of the eight thousand dollars ($8,000) required to make the library free." In April 1900, the Carnegie Foundation sent the $4,000 they had promised after the town had collected the first $4,000 to fulfill the town’s obligation.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, entrepreneur and a major philanthropist. He was truly a story of "rags to riches." His first job at age 13 was a worker in a bobbin factory changing spools of thread twelve hours a day, six days a week and earning about $2 per week. He had a passion for reading and became a "self-made man" intellectually and culturally. By age 18, he was a telegraph messenger boy and was soon hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a secretary/telegraph operator at $4 per week and began a rapid advancement through the company, making investments along the way.

Carnegie had good business sense and his efforts paid off handsomely over the years. He was involved in many businesses and he built his first steel plant soon after the Civil War ended. He possessed charm and literary knowledge and became friends with many important people, including several presidents. He made his fortune mainly in the steel industry by buying out many other steel, iron and coke companies. By 1901, Carnegie sold his interest in his steel company for $225,639,000 (about $40 billion today!).

Mr. Carnegie had already begun his philanthropic ventures prior to his retirement. He believed the wealthy had an obligation to better mankind by sharing their wealth. Before his death, he gave away nearly 90% ($350 million) of his total wealth. He set up the Carnegie Institute and donated monies to many causes and especially to colleges and communities to build libraries throughout the U.S., U.K. and other English-speaking countries. In total, he funded some 3,000 libraries for a total of about $43 million dollars.

With the persistence of the Monday Club, now Prescott was to get its own Carnegie Library. The money from Carnegie was in the bank along with the money the town had so generously donated. The next order of business was to procure a lot on which to build the library.

Then came the big setback. On the night of July 14, 1900 there was a fire which destroyed much of downtown Prescott, including all of the book collection the ladies had in their little library in the Bashford building! Luckily, the Library Board had the foresight to obtain insurance for their collection. The ladies decided not to buy any books with the insurance money until a suitable place was found to keep them – preferably their new library building. The citizens of Prescott rallied to replenish the lost collection.

But the fire had a profound effect on the little town of Prescott. Many businesses were lost and needed to be rebuilt. The new library building was not such a big priority that it once was. The plans for the library were not drawn up and presented to the board until January of 1901. They noted in the minutes of their meeting that month that "as soon as weather permits, building will proceed."

But there was much to be done in the meantime: obtaining the lot, finalizing the architectural plans and choosing the builder.

In Part 3 next week, the Monday Club realizes their dream of a public library in Prescott with the completion and dedication of the Carnegie Library.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Project Gutenberg Archives, Public Domain) Reuse only by permission.
Andrew Carnegie was once known as the second richest man in the United States (after J. D. Rockefeller) and spent his retirement years giving away nearly all of his fortune. One of his pet projects was aiding communities and colleges to build libraries in 47 states as well as many other countries. He is credited with funding the building of 3,000 libraries. Among other honors, the Saguaro cactus’s scientific name, Carnegiea, is named after him.