Andrew Carnegie was one of the most powerful and feared industrialists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Carnegie Steel helped make him the richest man in America. But after he sold his empire to J.P. Morgan, he devoted his life to philanthropy. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of the Valley’s Carnegie libraries.
Between 1889 and 1923, Carnegie and his Carnegie Corporation funded built over 1,600 libraries across the country. His grants had two requirements: communities had to provide a suitable site and had to agree to operate the library using taxpayer funds.
In California, some 142 Carnegie libraries were built. Most were small, one room structures, designed to be operated by one librarian. Others like the one on Broadway in downtown Fresno were grand neo-classical palaces.
Sadly, most of the Carnegie libraries in the San Joaquin Valley have been demolished. Fresno’s met the wrecking ball in 1959, a fate shared by the libraries in Dinuba, Porterville, Selma, Sanger, Tulare and Visalia.
Still some local Carnegie libraries remain: Exeter’s serves as a community center, Turlock’s is an art center, and Orosi’s is still a library. Yet some face an uncertain future. The Prairie-style Carnegie Library in Clovis was built in 1914. It served as home of the Clovis Chamber of Commerce since 1979, but as recently as 2022, was threatened with demolition.
