The library opened its doors in August of 1906 with the help of a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. The structure itself cost $4,852.95 and was the first Carnegie Library in the State of Oregon. The Library operated at the corner of 11th and Willamette until the new library at 13th & Oak was opened to the public in 1959.
Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the original Los Angeles Central Library with influences of ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Revival architecture. The central tower is topped with a tiled mosaic pyramid with suns on the sides with a hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning" at the apex. Other elements include sphinxes, snakes, and celestial mosaics. It has sculptural elements by the preeminent American architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie, similar to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, also designed by Goodhue. The building is a designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Printed on front: 153 The Los Angeles Public Library
In 1903, after receiving a $12,500 grant from Andrew Carnegie, the city contracted with Alan D. Conover as the building’s architect. The Antigo construction company of Dallman and Peterson was chosen to build the library in 1904. Allan D. Conover was one of Wisconsin’s most prominent architects and engineers, and professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Conover designed the library in the Georgian Revival and Colonial Revival styles popular in the final decades of the 19th and the early 20th century. The building was completed in 1905 and opened its doors to the public on November 8 1905.
Printed on front: Carnegie LIbrary, Antigo, Wis.-18
Message: Hello, Mabel & R.C. Picture O.K., thanks. Some city this. Think I will stay here. Hope you are well. Cant say much you know why this is. I may be back some day. Good bye, J. D.
View of the Tacoma Hotel and the waterfront from the original 11th Street Bridge. The bridge was completed in 1895 and closed in 1911. It was later replaced by the current vertical lift bridge, now named for local historian Murray Morgan. circa 1898.
