Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls

The Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls is a historic Carnegie library in the city of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States. Erected as Beaver County's first library building, it was financed by Andrew Carnegie and designed by a leading Pittsburgh architect in grand architectural style that helped to redefine the image of the typical Carnegie library. Numerous community organizations have used its space, which remains in continued use as a library, and it has been named a historic site.
In late 1883, community leaders formed a private library association, and a related lecture series was held to raise money through ticket sales. Small enough that it could fit in a grocery store, the resulting collection experienced enough use that it could be seen to be too small for the community's needs, even though it was a subscription library. The association continued sponsoring lectures, and one of their invited speakers was Andrew Carnegie: finding himself unable to accept their invitation, Carnegie donated a small amount of money to the association's finances. His willingness to assist the association spurred leaders to seek money from him to construct an entirely new building. After several years of negotiations, the industrialist agreed to contribute $50,000 toward a library building.

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