Communal Places for Literary Enthusiasts
X Xenia Carnegie Library, Ohio - Attended by everyone who was anyone, the public opening in 1906 was a
grand affair brought about by a small group of literary enthusiasts who asked
for and obtained a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Library program. As
electricity was not yet widely available, construction of the Xenia library
included usage of cut-glass material for the second floor so that light from
the roof dome would illuminate both floors. By 1920, additional library branches were
added across the county, and a bookmobile was purchased to transport books
between them. A tornado in 1974 caused
significant damage to the original building and destroyed thousands of books.
Repairs were made on the roof and stained glass dome, but in 1978 the
(original) Xenia Carnegie Library was deemed “too small for the growing
community” and shuttered as a new and more modern library building was
completed downtown. With the honorable persistence of volunteers from the
Carnegie Historic district, the original building was entered into the National
Registry of Historic Places in 2015.
“A library outranks any
other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing
spring in the desert.” ~ Andrew Carnegie
