Nearly 1700 libraries were built in the US between 1883 and 1929 with funds donated by businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. In January 1917, the widow of Rev. H.E. Harvey offered to donate his extensive private library if a building could be found to house the collection. The Coterie Club, like many women's organizations in communities across the country at that time, organized efforts to fund the library, and $10,000 was secured from the Carnegie Foundation to build it. The Paw Paw Library occupied the building for 71 years, after which ownership reverted to the Village, and it reopened on June 11, 1995 as the Carnegie Community Center.