Historic Preservation in Indiana: Essays from the Field

4. The Old Library Debate: How Bloomington, Indiana Preserved Its Carnegie Library

57 Elizabeth Schlemmer The Old Library Debate: How Bloomington, Indiana, Preserved Its Carnegie Library Carnegie libraries are a common sight in cities and towns across the United States, monuments not only to the steel magnate whose wealth made their construction possible, but also to the largely unknown communities of people who planned and preserved them. Every Carnegie library building stands for the work of local citizens who believed in its worth. At the turn of the twentieth century, Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in the United States, having grown Carnegie Steel into the largest and most profitable business in the nation. After selling his enterprise to JP Morgan in 1901, Carnegie committed the remainder of his life to philanthropic and scholarly pursuits. As outlined in his 1889 essay on the disposal of riches, “The Gospel of Wealth,” he considered libraries among the institutions most deserving of support, and he required would-be beneficiaries to invest in their libraries’ establishment. To be eligible for a library grant, a community had to demonstrate need, provide land for building, and promise to support and maintain the library with annual tax funds equal to ten percent of the grant amount. Local leaders hired the architect for the project, planned the design, stocked the building with books, and employed librarians. Today many Carnegie libraries, especially those in small towns, continue in their original function–albeit updated to encompass newer media alongside of books. Since 1960, however, many communities have outgrown their original libraries. Moreover, the challenges of adapting old buildings to meet the standards of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act have motivated many public libraries to seek new facilities. four 58 Elizabeth Schlemmer Just as local citizens were instrumental in establishing the Carnegie libraries constructed between 1900 and 1920, members of subsequent generations have played crucial roles in deciding the fate of these aging structures. Some have been lost to fires and other natural disasters and some to city or highway development. Many were abandoned simply because they no longer met local library needs. In such cases, communities were left wondering what new purpose these structures might serve. The preservation of Carnegie libraries, like the preservation of so many beloved community buildings, is in essence a dialogue between citizens about the meaning of local history as contained in the commonplace landmarks of a city landscape. There are few, if any, places where this conversation was articulated more eloquently or contested more fiercely than in Bloomington, Indiana, over the fate of its former public library. In October 1970, the Monroe County Public Library vacated its 1916 Neoclassical Revival home, which had been constructed of locally quarried limestone, and reopened in a new building one block to the west. The former library sat empty, but not forgotten, for more than seven years, during which Bloomington’s three newspapers published hundreds of reports of negotiations between government and citizen organizations involved in deciding the building’s fate. Three times, under two different mayoral administrations, the property barely escaped demolition to make way for much-needed parking space. But through it all, hundreds of concerned citizens argued that the building should be spared for its historical significance and potential usefulness as a continued community space. What came to be known as the “Save the Library” movement was an exhausting and intense debate between Bloomington residents who shared a passionate concern for their hometown while representing a broad spectrum of values and opinions. One of Bloomington’s most ardent library preservationists, Mary EllenFarmer,personallyclippedandsavednewspaperreportsrelatingto the library debate and applied them chronologically to over 300 pages in homemade scrapbooks. The pages of these books are smattered with her handwriting as she recorded each article’s date and wrote in the margins herownreactionsandcorrectionstofactualinaccuracies.Whenshewas The Old Library Debate 59 particularly incensed by one of her opponent’s remarks, Mrs. Farmer’s handwriting appears in red ink, occasionally with a few extra exclamationpoints .Mrs.Farmer’scarefullyconstructedscrapbookspreservethe dramaticnarrativeofthelibrary’ssurvivalandattesttotheworkinvested in the cause by the library’s many devoted allies.1 The History In the summer of 1970, nine months before the Monroe County Public Librarybeganitsmovetoanewhome,thecityof Bloomingtonexpressed interest in purchasing the Carnegie library building for $144,500,2 with the intent of using the site for a new high-rise parking garage. However, the city missed its deadline to acquire the property, and the former library was left vacant when the new library opened to the public on November 1...