How Andrew Carnegie’s vision helped shape the Downers Grove Public Library

By Maureen Callahan

A local library is something every community needs. Although it’s importance and relevance can sometimes be overlooked, it’s meant to be a place for everyone. The idea of steel and railroad billionaire Andrew Carnegie was to make education – at both rudimentary and advanced levels – accessible to anyone who sought it.

Carnegie was born into a desperately poor family in Scotland. His family set sail for New York in the 1840s, when he was twelve. They eventually settled in Pittsburgh, where young Andrew worked several jobs, such as a telegraph office messenger and later a telegraph operator for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Gradually, he gained skills that later contributed to his eventual railroad success. While not formally educated, Carnegie was an avid reader who self-educated on topics such as railroads, iron, and steel.

He was also the proverbial man with a plan. Eventually, he rose to be one of the wealthiest Americans of his day. He founded the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Steel Company, which he later sold to J.P Morgan. It is estimated Carnegie was worth upwards of $480 million by 1901. In addition to his monumental success, the tycoon was also recognized as an exceptionally generous philanthropist who donated to a varied landscape of charities. By the time of his death, Carnegie had given away more than 90% of the fortune he had amassed with his own two hands.

The steel magnate largely credited his rags-to-riches story to a place to which all have access – our public libraries.

“A library outranks any one thing a community can do to benefit its people,”

– Industrialist Andrew Carnegie on the importance of local libraries

Between 1886 and 1919, Carnegie financed more than sixteen hundred new libraries in communities across the country that educated and entertained millions of Americans. The new institutions seemed to lessen the gap between the lower and middle classes, while offering what Carnegie proved to be the most available – and affordable – opportunity for education.

In 1915, our own Downers Grove Public Library was the recipient of one such grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Initially, a small reading room of about 700 volumes was founded in 1891 by the Ladies Library Association above the Farmers and Merchants Bank in what is now Pierce Tavern. The grant was used to build the first library building in its current location.

By 1977, the building needed to be expanded to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. Since then, DGPL has been renovated and expanded several times. Today, almost a million items circulate annually.

This year marks the 135th anniversary of DGPL. Library Journal, a national magazine, gave our library five stars in a 2022 ranking.

The first library Carnegie gifted was to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. Overall, between the philanthropist himself and later his foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, an estimated
$56 million built more than 2500 public libraries.

Downers Grove Public Library, present

DGPL Milestones

1891 – A small reading room is established above the Farmers and Merchants Bank in the current Pierce’s Tavern building.

1911 – A referendum passes for the establishment of a tax-supported library of about 1500 books – a small building at the southwest corner of Main and Curtiss.

1915 – With the help of a Carnegie Foundation grant, a new library building at Forest and Curtiss is built for about $11,250.

1956 – A “wrap-around” addition expands the building to accommodate a growing population.

1977 – A new, 40,000-square-foot library opens on the site of the former building. During construction, the collection was moved to a temporary site just east of the current building. In the space of six years, the Reference Department was moved upstairs to a redesigned second floor.

1999 – The passage of an $8.2 million referendum in 1996 reconstructed and updated the library with a 67,738-square-foot addition.

2014 – A $2.4 million building renovation passed in 2012 upgrades technology, improves WiFi, and adds more study spaces, along with a lobby café space.

2016 – DGPL celebrates 125 years!

2025 – DGPL is designated a Historic Site by the Downers Grove Historical Society.