William Halsey Wood was the original architect of this library. It was the second Carnegie Library to be commissioned; but, because the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny took longer to build, this was the first one to open.
It set the pattern for future Carnegie Libraries in the steel towns: it was a complete cultural center, with a gymnasium, a music hall, and even a bathhouse. A motivated steelworker could come here, wash off the soot and grime, and improve his body and mind.
The slow revival of this library is an inspiring story of a community coming together to save a beloved treasure. It closed in 1974, because the building was in such bad shape that it could not be kept open. But the library refused to die: its last librarian organized a community group that bought the building and slowly put it back together. Today it is a lively cultural center again, rebranded as “Carnegie One.”
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