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  Table of Contents about Andrew Carnegie About Allen Gardiner, author of The Carnegie Legacy in Kansas Further information about Libraries featured in this book Carnegie Legacy in Kansas logo: Link that takes you to the home page  

DODGE CITY

EARLY LIBRARY HISTORY
 
The library was established sometime prior to 1905, when Dr. C. A. Milton, Judge E. H. Madison, L. J. Pettijohns, and others first discussed the idea of providing the town with a public library building. Previously, a library had been organized in 1885 and set up in the office of the county superintendent.
 
Photo: Carnegie Library in Dodge City Kansas

 
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY
 
With the encouragement of the Women's Club, Judge Madison wrote to Andrew Carnegie, who responded on February 1, 1905, stating he would give $7,500.00 for a library building (an amount later increased to $8,500.00). C. W. Squires, of Emporia, was chosen as the architect. The contract was given to William Foley; W. B. Rhoads performed the cement work; Sturgeon Brothers provided the brick; and Tieffenbach Brothers were in charge of interior decoration. The library was opened to the public February l, 1907.
 
The Ladies Library Association, Philomath, Atheneum, and Sorosis Study Clubs helped raise money for the first year's budget. Club plays, teas and lectures were given with the proceeds donated to the library fund. In one instance the city council issued a license to allow a merry-go- round inside the city limits, twenty-five percent of the receipts going to the library fund.
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING
 
The library building, located on the northwest corner of Spruce and Second Avenue, is of red brick and is set on a raised concrete basement. Shallow one-story pedimented pavilions pivot to west and north around a two-story drum that is crowned by a shallow tiered dome. The upper lights are of stained glass. The rectangular single light windows of the clerestory of the drum are entirely of stained glass, one of the features which makes the building unique among Carnegie libraries in Kansas.
 
The building was designed in the "Free Style" or "Free Eclectic Style," utilizing classical detailing and traditional classical building forms as points of formal departure. Late nineteenth century tastes are found in the treatment of the windows and in the overall orchestration of colors and textures, and the influence of the American Beaux-Arts is found in the use of a public building as a focal point within the urban environment.
 
LATER LIBRARY HISTORY
 
A 5,000 square foot addition was begun in 1936, assisted by $5,843.55 of WPA funds. The rectangular one-story addition extends to the west; it was completed in 1937.