Untitled Document

The general contract for the construction of the building was awarded to Messrs. Nels Granquist and Peter Swanson, both of Kewanee, Illinois—bondsmen John Fischer, Nels F. Anderson and A. John Anderson—at thirty-six thousand dollars, on October 4, 1906. The building was begun in October, 1906.

A copy of the history of the library with various papers and articles, a list of which follows, and which may be of interest in after time, were placed in a copper box which was sealed and deposited in the corner stone (marked 1906) of the Kewanee Public Library, at two thirty p. m., of January 17, 1907.

The box in the corner stone, which was laid January 17, 1907, contained: History of the Kewanee Public Library, by Horace Phillips, secretary; first cata logue of the library, date 1875, published by the Independent Book and Job Company, of Kewanee, Illinois; a later catalogue; picture of the first board of directors, taken by Andrew Johnson, May 17, 1880; picture of library board, 1907, taken in Charles R. Lory's gallery; Star-Courier of January 16, 1907; Star-Courier of January 17, 1907; Labor Herald of January, 1907; Cambridge Chronicle of January 10, 1907; an article by R. P. Parrish: "What is the Matter with Kewanee?" "Pictorial Kewanee," published by the Star-Courier; City Directory 1905-06; coins—one cent (copper), five cents (nickel), ten cents, twenty-five cents and fifty cents (silver), all of 1906, one dollar of 1904; Chicago Sunday Tribune May 17, 1903, one page picture of Mr. Andrew Carnegie and list of his donations to 1903; The Bench and Bar of Illinois on Equal Suffrage, presented by Mr. Charles K. Ladd.

The building was completed early in 1908, at a cost of about fifty thousand dollars. The library occupies the rooms on the first floor. Three rooms in the basement were finished and furnished for the use of the Kewanee township officers. The south room on the second floor, called the Art Room, holds the beautiful collection of one hundred and thirty-four pictures given to the library by Mr. Thomas P. Pierce. The room on the north side, second floor, is used as a place of meeting of various literary clubs and for occasional lectures.

Soon after the opening of the new building the number of books was largely increased by money furnished by the Fortnightly Club, by the German Society and by many ladies and gentlemen of the city.

The Ladies of the Reading Club gave pictures and casts which adorn the walls of the Children's Room and the Daughters of the American Revolution, the fine picture of Mount Vernon, hung in the general reading room on the south side.

In the entrance room of the building is a bronze tablet, which, as follows, recognizes the givers of this substantial and beautiful library, The People's College.

KEWANEE TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY Organized April 7, 1875.

This Building Was Made Possible by the Munificence of

ANDREW CARNEGIE

Who gave twenty-five thousand dollars and by the public spirit of the towns people, who provided the site and half the cost of construction and maintain the work of the library by annual tax.

Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus, the eloquent Chicago pastor, president of the Armour Institute, delivered the address at the dedication of the new building, Tuesday evening, April 21, 1908.

It may be of interest to the people of the township to know that the building was completed and paid for and that there was still some money left in the hands of the library board.

History of Henry County

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