{"id":98,"date":"2010-04-13T07:15:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T12:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/?p=98"},"modified":"2010-04-13T08:45:04","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T13:45:04","slug":"the-joplin-carnegie-library-and-the-origins-of-joplin-public-library-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/?p=98","title":{"rendered":"The Joplin Carnegie Library and the Origins of Joplin Public Library: Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the major institutions of modern day downtown Joplin is the Joplin Public Library located in the 300 block between the Third and Fourth streets.\u00a0 The prior occupant of this site was the Connor Hotel.\u00a0 Plans to purchase the block, demolish the Connor, and to erect a new library building began in the 1970’s.\u00a0 The Connor collapsed a day before its scheduled demolition in 1978, and all but a few minuscule pieces of the grand hotel remained on opening day of the new library building in April, 1981.\u00a0 Up until that spring day twenty-nine years ago, the Joplin Public Library had been housed in a Romanesque building, a columned temple of knowledge, a few blocks to the southwest.\u00a0 The origin of it and Joplin’s library system began more than a century ago.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, the idea to establish a city library came into being not long after Joplin began to establish its schools and a professional class.\u00a0 The dust of the lead and zinc mines was shaken off by a city that pulsed with a passionate desire for progress.\u00a0 In April 1893, a gathering was held at the Young Men’s Christian Association building.\u00a0 It was the first formal meeting of the Joplin Public Library Association.\u00a0 Hamilton S. Wilks was elected president, along with Christopher Guengerich as treasurer, the Reverend E.E. Wilkey as secretary, and C.W. Squire as vice-president.\u00a0 In addition, an executive committee was established with the following women: Mrs. W.H. Picher, Mrs. Clark Craycroft, Ms. Henry Weymen, Lola Spear and Mrs. W.C. Weatherill.<\/p>\n

The initial funds to assist in the creation of a library came from a charity event hosted by the Century Club.\u00a0 The club, established only three years previously, was a women’s literary society. Its members embarked on a campaign to create a city library through education and outreach.\u00a0 While a public reading room had been the original idea for the city’s library, it became obvious that an independent library building was needed.\u00a0 The Century Club, and other Joplin literary clubs, claimed victory in the city election of 1901.\u00a0 The months before the vote had been spent campaigning for an annual tax of ten cents for every one hundred dollars appraised for the care and maintenance of a library building.\u00a0 The measure was overwhelmingly approved.<\/p>\n

\"Sedalia's<\/a>

The Library Committee traveled to visit Sedalia's Carnegie Library, pictured here.<\/p><\/div>\n

This tax was connected to a requirement to form a non-partisan board to oversee the construction and operation of the library.\u00a0 Ten individuals were appointed to the board: William N. Carter, H. H. Gregg, J. D. Elliff, Henry Kost, E. L. Anderson, Reverend Paul Brown, O. H. Picher, Mrs. Ada Goss Briggs, Mrs. Emma Lichliter and Mrs. Hattie Ruddy Rice.\u00a0 Elliff, the superintendent of Joplin’s public schools, was elected president by the board, while the position of board secretary was given to Rice.\u00a0 Shortly after, the board created a committee tasked with overseeing the building and grounds of the future library.<\/p>\n

Around May, 1901, that committee explored the possibility of contacting the capitalist Andrew Carnegie.\u00a0 For just under twenty years, the Scotsman offered funds to cities for the construction of libraries.\u00a0 Generally, these donations came upon the promise that the cities guarantee a specific amount of upkeep and continue funding of the institutions.\u00a0 Not long after the president of the board, J.D. Eliff sent off a letter to Carnegie, a reply was received from James Bertram, Carnegie’s personal secretary. Addressed from Skibo Castle, Ardgar, Bertram wrote:<\/p>\n

Dear Sir – Responding to your letter of May 6th\u2013If the city of Joplin will furnish a suitable site and pledge Itself to maintain the library at a cost of not less than $4,000 a year. Mr. Carnegie will be glad to provide $40,000 for a suitable building.<\/em><\/p>\n

Very Respectfully.<\/em><\/p>\n

James Bertram. Private Sec’y. <\/em><\/p>\n

The promised sum of $40,000 delighted the board.\u00a0 The question then turned to what the library should look like and where that building should be located.<\/p>\n

The discussion of location and design carried on through the months of 1901 and into the first quarter of 1902.\u00a0 It was not until October, 1901, that the board finally came to a decision on the placement of the new library.\u00a0 Proposed locations included the intersection of Eighth and Pearl streets, Cox Park (advocated by the people of South Joplin), and the intersection of Joplin and Ninth streets.\u00a0 The two most popular sites, however, were the intersections of Fourth and Pearl and Ninth and Wall streets.\u00a0 The former were owned by a man named Renfrow and the latter by Christopher Guengerich.\u00a0 According to coverage by the Globe, the board’s primary concern was a location which benefited the entire population of the city.<\/p>\n

The board came to a decision on the location on October 21, 1901, when by a vote of 5 to 4, the Ninth and Wall location barely beat out the Fourth and Pearl site. Prior to the vote, attorney and amateur historian Joel T. Livingston offered a presentation, complete with a special map of the city that how the population of Joplin was concentrated.\u00a0 Incidentally, while Livingston claimed to favor no specific site, his analysis of the city’s population placed the epicenter around Eighth and Wall streets.\u00a0 If this swayed the votes toward the Ninth and Wall location, the site was further helped by the testimony of J.W. Freeman, who claimed the location would satisfy the people of South Joplin.\u00a0 It was future Missouri State Senator Hugh McIndoe, as well as Freeman Foundry owner J.W. Freeman, Oscar and C.M. DeGraff, as well as Clay Gregory, who introduced the successful proposition.\u00a0 Thus, the chosen site had strong and influential supporters.\u00a0 As to what type of building would be built at the corner of Ninth and Wall, the discussion continued into the next year.<\/p>\n

\"Cheyenne<\/a>

The Cheyenne Carengie Library design that William Carter favored and became the basis for Joplin's library.<\/p><\/div>\n

The committee in charge of selecting the design of the library took their task seriously.\u00a0 Initially, a question of whether the city would offer the local Joplin architects was debated.\u00a0 One of the chief proponents against hiring local talent was William Carter, who when asked about the successful architect August Michaelis, sneered, \u201cHe learned his business in Joplin.\u201d\u00a0 Carter went on to point out that Joplin had no libraries or similar buildings, and as such, Michaelis had no experience in designing a library.\u00a0 Another supporter of seeking a non-local architect was Ada Briggs, who read a letter written by the president of the Sedalia Library board.\u00a0 Prior to this meeting, members of Joplin’s committee had visited the city to their north to view their Carnegie library.\u00a0 In the letter, the president warned against allowing local architects to use Joplin’s library as an opportunity to learn how to design such a building.<\/p>\n

Plans based on the designs of numerous libraries were pushed in an attempt to avoid hiring area architects.\u00a0 One such architectural rendering was the Sedalia, Missouri, public library, which was quickly dismissed for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 It was too big for the lot picked out previously; it failed to include a basement or a separate women’s assembly room; and it cost an additional $10,000 more than Joplin had budgeted.\u00a0 Nevertheless, Ada Briggs described the building as, \u201cbeautiful simplicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In lieu of the Sedalia design, Carter suggested the design of the Carnegie library in Cheyenne, Wyoming.\u00a0 Apparently, the news of Joplin’s library design search had spread, as the architect of the Cheyenne library visited Carter the week before to sell him on the design of that building.\u00a0 Carter went so far as to suggest a trip to Cheyenne, similar to that which had gone to Sedalia, but the expense and length of the trip resulted in no support for such an adventure.<\/p>\n

In the end, the committee opted to allow local architects to submit plans, based on the fact that a majority of the committee believed that they had already proven themselves with many beautiful buildings about the city.\u00a0 It was even remarked that this was a difference between Joplin and Sedalia.\u00a0 One city had remarkable architecture and the other did not.\u00a0 The committee then reasoned that the advice of the Sedalia library board’s president to seek elsewhere for an architect could be ignored simply because Sedalia did not have any local architects of considerable skill. The plans of three firms were accepted to be voted upon.\u00a0 The three were Garstang & Rea, I.A. Hunter, and August C. Michaelis.<\/p>\n

\"August<\/a>

August C. Michaelis, one of Joplin's preeminent architects.<\/p><\/div>\n

At 2’o clock in the afternoon on February 3, 1902, the committee selected the plan presented by Michaelis.\u00a0 By specification, the design was similar to that of the Cheyenne Library, but not an identical copy.\u00a0 This requirement was probably added to soothe those members, like Carter, who did not want to trust the design to local architects.\u00a0 It featured three floors, a basement, first floor, and second.\u00a0 Located in the basement was to be the men’s reading room, advertised as a place men could visit in or out of work clothes, as well go so far as to enjoy a smoke while perusing book or newspaper.\u00a0 Filling out the basement was a coal room, toilets, and the boiler.\u00a0 Upon rising to the next floor, the visitor found a main hallway of 33 square foot of marble flooring.<\/p>\n

On one side of the floor the general reading room was placed connected by doorway to a reference room.\u00a0 Opposite the general reading room was a reading room expressly for children.\u00a0 In addition to a reference room, a room was set aside for librarians and contained a fire proof vault.\u00a0 At the rear of the floor was located a circular stacks, which at the time was supposed to be filled with steel fire proof shelving.\u00a0 The shelves were to be arranged in a circular fashion with the librarian seated in the center and thus with a 360 degree view of the room.\u00a0 The stacks were expected to hold approximately 30,000 books.<\/p>\n

\"August<\/a>

August Michaelis' winning design for Joplin's Carnegie Library<\/p><\/div>\n

Also located on the first floor was a wide double staircase that rose to the second floor.\u00a0 On this uppermost floor was located a room for the women’s club with attached rooms and bathroom.\u00a0 A statuary hall mirrored the hallway below and at the time was thought to be an ideal display area for mineral examples. Separate rooms were set aside for art and for trustees, as well a private reading room.\u00a0 The rooftop was shingled in zinc, though a brief controversy arose when someone claimed architect Michaelis had said otherwise.\u00a0 Michaelis confirmed that the library would indeed have zinc roof tiles. The library was heated indirectly with steam.\u00a0 The library was filled with oak furniture and countertops.<\/p>\n

A plan in hand, all that remained was for construction to begin.\u00a0 Part Two will continue the history of the Joplin Carnegie library.<\/p>\n

Sources: Joplin News Herald, Joplin Globe, \u201cA History of Jasper County, Missouri and its People,\u201d by Joel Livingston, and Missouri Digital History.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the major institutions of modern day downtown Joplin is the Joplin Public Library located in the 300 block between the Third and Fourth streets.\u00a0 The prior occupant of this site was the Connor Hotel.\u00a0 Plans to purchase the block, demolish the Connor, and to erect a new library building began in the 1970’s.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,245],"tags":[382,381,47,385,32,52,380,31,376,383,384,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historicjoplin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}