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HIAWATHA

EARLY LIBRARY HISTORY
 
In March, 1882, the Hon. Edmund Needham Morrill, Governor of Kansas, offered $2,000.00 to start a reading room and library in Hiawatha, provided that the city would rent a suitable room, pay for a librarian, and be responsible for other expenses. The library opened May 29, 1882, with 1,300 volumes. Morrill gave $300.00 a year for the purchase of books, and Charles H. Janes, his business partner, gave $500.00 and 200 books, and at his death left a legacy of $1,000.00 plus his private library to the Morrill Public Library.
 
Carnegie Library: Hiawatha, Kansas

 
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY
 
Mayor D. F. Honstedt opened correspondence with Andrew Carnegie who offered $10,000.00 for a library building on April 10, 1906. The city then agreed to provide the necessary support of $1,000.00 to meet the pledge. E. N. Morrill donated a site at Oregon and Fifth Streets. M. N. Blair, of Falls City, Nebraska, was chosen as architect to design the building. The contract went to Victor Bauer, of Horton, Kansas.
 
Stone for the building was quarried locally, and brick was supplied by the Hiawatha Brick Plant. The cornerstone was laid August 29, 1906, and the building was opened May 29, 1907.
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING
 
The building is rectangular, with a brick exterior above a raised basement of limestone. Twin Ionic columns flank the front door above which is a many-paneled window. Above the windows is surmounted a frieze with a decorative design, and the words "Carnegie Building / Morrill Free Library" are found in high relief above the frieze.
 
LATER LIBRARY HISTORY
 
In 1967, the library underwent a major renovation. A new front entrance was added, and the basement was remodeled to serve as the children's department. This doubled the amount of usable space in the library.
 
On May 29, 1982, Morrill Public Library celebrated the centennial of its founding and the 75th anniversary of the Carnegie building. The library also sponsored the reprinting of E. N. Morrill's 1876 History of Brown County, Kansas, as part of the centennial activities.
 
Substantial endowments have been made through the years by or in memory of Charles H. Janes, Caroline Morrill, Pratt Brison, John B. Richardson, Mrs. Regina A. Chamberlin, Grace Morrill Dixon, Louis Robinson, George Johannes (who donated a farm), and Paul Bruning (a substantial benefactor in 1980).