Harvard’s first library began in 1885 as a traveling collection established in Church’s Drugstore, then moved among other buildings until Mayor George H. Thomas appointed a committee in 1914 to contact the Carnegie Foundation. Citizens pledged $3,175.25, and Carnegie contributed $6,000 after approving the blueprints and site. The library was constructed in 1915 and formally opened in February 1916. As of December 2010, it was one of only 26 of Nebraska’s 69 Carnegie libraries still remaining in use as a library.