I want to thank you all for coming this evening, to help us

commemorate the centennial of the dedication of the Andrew Carnegie

Free Library and Music Hall. In a few minutes, Peter Krass will be

talking to you about the life of our benefactor, Andrew Carnegie.

The reason we are all here today is because Andrew Carnegie saw

the wisdom of donating money for the construction of this wonderful

facility. So, first, I will take a few minutes to give you a short history of

the Andrew Carnegie Free Library.

It all started on February 20, 1894, when the Borough of Mansfield,

on this side of Chartiers Creek, and the Borough of Chartiers, on the

opposite side of Chartiers Creek, solidified the intergovernmental

cooperation that had already been occurring with a merger of the two

municipalities. The voters agreed to name the new town "Carnegie,"

after the leading industrialist of that day, Andrew Carnegie.

As Carnegie Borough was already an industrial center, some civic

leaders had hoped this honor would induce Andrew Carnegie to

establish a new steel mill in his namesake town. However, the Carnegie

Steel Company already had three major plants in Braddock,

Homestead, and Duquesne and had no plans to open new plants.

Another drawback was that Chartiers Creek was not navigable for

commercial barges.

On November 5, 1895, Andrew Carnegie gave the keynote address

at the dedication of the main branch of The Carnegie Library of

Pittsburgh, in Oakland. In his address, he publicly announced his

intention to build a library in his namesake town of Carnegie.

During the negotiations that ensued, Carnegie Borough officials

asked if a high school could be built with the library. Andrew Carnegie

felt that it was most appropriate for the taxpayers to fund buildings for

public education. Although he did not say no to the request for a high

school, he did say that it would be his preference to build a music hall

with the library. At a town meeting, the people of Carnegie quickly

agreed to the offer of a library and music hall.

The taxpayers of Carnegie did build a new high school, which was

completed before the library opened. This new high school was located

at the bottom of, what would eventually be known as, Library Hill. It

was built there, to be in close proximity to the library, and, special steps

were constructed to expedite travel between the high school and the

library. In addition to the students' use of the library-proper, high

school concerts, plays, and other assemblies occurred in the music hall,

as the high school did not have an auditorium.

So, on April 26, 1898, Andrew Carnegie wrote a letter to William

Hill, the first Library Board President, and George Hosack, the Board

Secretary, offering "$200,000 upon a fireproof building for a Public

noted that most towns, receiving a Carnegie Library building, did not

receive extra money for books. In addition to building an 800-seat Music

Hall with the Library, a Lecture Hall was also constructed on the

building's second floor, as Andrew Carnegie was told that the Carnegie

Borough Council needed a place to meet. Carnegie Borough Council

continued meeting in the Library Lecture Hall, until they obtained their

own building and Council Chamber in the 1970s.

in the middle of town, on a hill overlooking the business district. $81,000

was used to construct and furnish the building. And, $93,000 was reserved

as an endowment fund, to assist in the financial maintenance

of the facility.

What many people do not realize is that the land purchased for the

library, by Andrew Carnegie, goes much beyond the building. A small

section of library property actually runs all the way to Main Street,

at the intersection with Broadway--the new sundial, at this intersection, is

actually on library property. Andrew Carnegie considered this excess land

to be a small in-town park, for the citizens of Carnegie. Erected on the

wall of the Library Foyer is a plaque, which states:

"THIS BUILDING AND PARK

GIVEN AND DEDICATED BY

ANDREW CARNEGIE

TO THE CITIZENS OF THIS BOROUGH

ANNO DOMINI 1899"

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library was the fourth of only five

libraries, built by Andrew Carnegie, which received an endowment. The

other libraries receiving an endowment were in his native hometown of

Dunfermline, Scotland in 1881, Braddock, Pa. built in 1889, Homestead,

Pa. built in 1898, and the City of Duquesne, Pa. in 1904. Although

Carnegie Institute, better known today as The Carnegie Museums of

Pittsburgh, also received an endowment, the Carnegie Libraries in the

cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side, did not

receive an endowment.

All of the other 2,806 libraries donated throughout the English-

speaking world by Andrew Carnegie were required to receive an annual

subsidy from their home municipality. In most cases, this annual

maintenance pledge, which became known as "The Carnegie Formula,"

was calculated as ten percent of the cost of the library building.

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library was legally formed with the

execution, by Andrew Carnegie, of a Declaration of Trust agreement on

April 20, 1899. This Trust agreement is the legal charter or constitution of

the Library, enforced by the Orphans' Court of Allegheny County.

The Declaration of Trust agreement set in-place Andrew Carnegie's

philosophy for the proper governance of a public library. The Trust set-up

a 17-member Board of Trustees, consisting of 10 Life Trustees appointed

by Andrew Carnegie and 7 Ex-Officio Trustees consisting of the 6

members of the Carnegie Borough Council and the Burgess of Carnegie,

which later became Mayor of Carnegie. With the approval of the Orphans'

Court two years ago, this Board of Trustees structure was streamlined to

consist of 9 Term Trustees and 3 Ex-Officio Trustees.

The Trust agreement also declared that the name of the institution

would be the Andrew Carnegie Free Library. This was the first and only

time that a public library was permitted to use Andrew Carnegie's first

name as part of the name of the library. There is one academic library that

was also permitted to use his first name: the Andrew Carnegie Library of

Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. However, there is no

other public library which uses his first name.

In general, Andrew Carnegie did not require that a library

constructed with his money use his last name--although, as with our

library, there were a few exceptions. All of the early libraries funded by

Andrew Carnegie were required to have the words "Free Library" or

"Free to the People" inscribed on the front of the building. He wanted

these words to be literally engraved in stone, to ensure that no library he

funded ever charged an admission fee!

On October 19, 1899, the Cornerstone was laid for the Library and

construction was begun. The Cornerstone, which can be seen when

entering the Library, simply says "ERECTED A.D. 1899." Inside the

Cornerstone is a time capsule which includes Andrew Carnegie's letter, of

April 26, 1898, granting $210,000 for construction of the Library, as well as

a cablegram, from Mr. Carnegie, congratulating the citizens of Carnegie

for the beginning of construction of the Library. The time capsule also

includes issues of the Carnegie Item, Chartiers Valley Signal, Carnegie

Union, and some Pittsburgh newspapers. The program of the day, list of

the Library Board of Trustees, and a number of personal and business

cards were also placed in the time capsule.

On April 9, 1900, the Library Board of Trustees established the By-

Laws of the new organization. As with the Library's Trust agreement,

these By-Laws remained unchanged until the mid-1990s.

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library opened its doors to the public on

May 1, 1901. The first book checked-out of the new Library was titled,

"Triumphant Democracy," authored by Andrew Carnegie! The first event

in the new Music Hall came on May 10, 1901, with a concert by the

Carnegie Men's Glee Club.

Andrew Carnegie was not able to attend either event. So, the official

dedication of the Library came on April 22, 1902. This was a very warm

Spring day. In fact, according to the National Weather Service, the high

temperature of +86 degrees F that day is still the record high temperature

in Pittsburgh for the date of April 22! Andrew Carnegie leased a streetcar

to travel to Carnegie that day.

Accompanying Andrew Carnegie to the dedication ceremony was his

good friend John A. Brashear, who was well-known as an astronomer,

telescope-maker, and educator. At this time John Brashear was Chancellor

of the Western University of Pennsylvania, which is now known

as the University of Pittsburgh. A few years earlier, he had been Director

of the Allegheny Observatory.

The John A. Brashear Company built telescopes, large and small, as

well as other precision scientific instruments, that were distributed

throughout the world. Many Brashear telescopes are still in use today,

including large ones at the Allegheny Observatory and the Nicholas E.

Wagman Observatory in Deer Lakes Park in the North Hills.

Emma Danziger Krass, the grandmother of tonight's keynote

speaker Peter Krass, also attended the Library dedication. At age 5, she

sang with her first grade class from Lincoln School.

During the dedication ceremony, Andrew Carnegie presented

another gift to the Library--a stage curtain for the Music Hall, which

included a painting of his Scottish home, Skibo Castle. What you see here,

tonight, is not the same curtain; no one knows what happened to the

original proscenium curtain. With the assistance of the theatrical troupe,

Stage 62, and the generous funding from First Carnegie Deposit Bank, this

historic stage curtain, with a painting of Skibo Castle, was re-created and

dedicated on July 18, 1997, preceding the Stage 62 performance of the

musical, "Pippen."

While some of Andrew Carnegie's original library buildings have

been replaced, over the last century, and rumors persist that some of his

original library branches in the City of Pittsburgh may be replaced in the

near future, the Board of Trustees and staff of the Andrew Carnegie Free

Library have strongly felt that our historic library building should remain

a library.

A new organization of civic and business leaders, called the

Chartiers Valley Partnership, headed by Bill Manbe and Charlie Goetz,

has accepted the challenge to raise $8 million for the restoration of this

wonderful facility. Preliminary plans, for this restoration, are on public

display near the Library's Circulation Desk, and these plans can be viewed

by the public any time the Library is open.

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library is open to the public on Tuesday,

Wednesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday from 10 a.m. to 5

p.m.; and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Library is closed on Sundays

and Mondays.

Isn't this a great Music Hall!!! In addition to being the location of

several plays and concerts each year, often groups rent the Music Hall just

to record a CD album, due to its excellent acoustics!

You are sitting in the original mahogany seats; there are still 788 of

the original 800 seats in the Music Hall. And, if you check directly under

each seat, you will find that there is a metal frame that can be used to store

a hat!

Some of you may enjoy watching the Boston Pops Orchestra on

Public Television, with its young Conductor Keith Lockhart. Well, in the

1980s, Keith Lockhart was the Conductor of the Pittsburgh Civic

Orchestra, which, at that time, was one of the resident performing arts

groups of this Music Hall!

Wisdom, The Book of Leadership Wisdom, and The Book of Management

Wisdom, of the acclaimed Wisdom series, which have been translated into a

number of different languages and distributed around the world. He has

also written for Investor's Business Daily and Across the Board.

of Andrew Carnegie in more than thirty years. He will speak to us this

evening about the life of this very complex individual, who donated so

much to our community.

Following his talk, Peter will take questions from the audience.

Then, you will have the opportunity to purchase the book, Carnegie,

autographed by the author. Peter has generously offered to donate five

dollars, from each book sold this evening, to the Andrew Carnegie Free

Library.

So, let's have a warm Carnegie welcome for our native son, Peter

Krass.