Education
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A $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie financed Santa Maria's first public library in 1908. The Ladies Literary Society, now the Minerva Club, began the effort with letters to the steel magnate in 1901 and later enlisted the City Council's help. Carnegie gave millions of dollars for more than 1,600 libraries between 1889 and 1923, requiring local officials to support the buildings with tax funds and communities to provide sites for them. Citizen donations supplemented city funds to purchase a lot for the library and park at Broadway and Cook streets. The Classical Revival style building served until 1941, when a larger library was constructed adjacent to it. The original Carnegie Library became a U.S.O. Center during the war, then a community youth center, and it was demolished in 1966. These two libraries were located north of the existing 60,000 square foot Santa Maria Public Library.
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Santa Maria, California · United States
