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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  

IOLA

EARLY LIBRARY HISTORY
 
A library movement was begun in March, 1879, but it was not successful. On July 19, 1884, a meeting was held at the Opera House to organize a library association. Judge Talcott offered a donation of books if a public library should be established. The name of the Iola Library Association was adopted in August, and 83 members formed a corporation; stock was sold at $1.00 per share. L. L. Northrup gave a room over the old Northrup Bank where the library was housed for some time, until the building was razed to erect the Masonic Temple.
 
Photo: Carnegie Library in Iola Kansas

 
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY
 
Mayor E. W. Myler wrote to Andrew Carnegie in April, 1904, asking for a gift of money for a library. Carnegie responded December 20, 1904, offering $15,000.00 for a building. An election was held February 14, 1905, and the voters agreed to support the library. A site at Buckeye and East Madison was chosen for the library (although considerable controversy occurred over which lots to purchase).
 
Hair & Smith, architects of Iola, designed the building. Bids were opened July 10, but no contract was given at that time until Andrew Carnegie had been given the opportunity to examine the bids. At that time no decision had been made on the material to be used for the exterior of the building. The contract was given in the latter part of July to John Livingston & Son, and the Horton Concrete Co. was authorized to produce the building materials.
 
While the building was still under construction, Carnegie was approached and asked for an additional $2,000.00 "for the furnishing and some additional touches," but the request was denied "on the grounds that the auditorium and the living rooms were not approved." In May, 1906, the library association, which had been in temporary quarters in a drug store, turned over all its possessions to the Iola Free Public Library. The building was dedicated October 4, 1906, and opened October 19.
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING
 
The building was rectangular, two stories in height above a raised basement. The concrete blocks for the building were produced locally, as Iola had the largest cement plant west of the Mississippi. The central portion only of the building was two stories in height, and a massive portico, embellished with stone Ionic columns, was surmounted by battlements. The building had a tile roof.
 
LATER LIBRARY HISTORY
 
In time the building became too small. At the April 6, 1965, election, voters overwhelmingly approved a $198,000.00 bond issue to construct a new library building. The State Library offered $80,000.00 of Library Services and Construction Act, Title II, funds, which were matched by