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Council Bluffs Public Library
Library in Iowa, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Council Bluffs Public Library serves the residents of Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States, along with unincorporated and rural areas of Pottawattamie County. Several cities also contract with the library to provide services. It dates back to 1866. The library is currently located on Willow Avenue. The previous library building on Pearl Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
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The public library in Council Bluffs had its beginnings in 1866, when a subscription library was established for men over the age of 12.[1] The Council Bluffs Library Association was formed in 1878. The Free Public Library was created in 1882, and it operated out of rented space.
W. S. Baird, a library trustee, contacted the Carnegie Foundation, which agreed to fund a new building at $50,000 if the city agreed to provide a site and institute an annual tax of $5,000 to operate the facility.[3] The foundation was persuaded to raise its grant to $70,000 if the yearly tax were raised to $7,000. The grant was awarded on January 6, 1903, and the new building was dedicated on September 12, 1905.[4] It was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Patton & Miller in the Beaux-Arts-style. It was the largest Carnegie library built in the state.[3]
The library building became inadequate. The present library was completed in 1998 for $13.5 million. It contains 67,500 square feet (6,270 m2) of space.[1] The Carnegie-funded building was converted into the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, which opened in 2013. The city retains ownership of the old building, the Union Pacific Railroad pays for the operating costs, and the library maintains the collection.[5]
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