Rockford's Carnegie Library

Part of the Library Postcards: Civic Pride in a Lost America web site, and subdivided off the Illinois page N-R.

Rockford Public Library has one interesting west side branch, the Spanish Renaissance styled Montague, designed by Chester E. Wolfley and built in 1923.
Like Madison, Wisconsin to its north, many RPL branches are in former retail space. Schools have also been used as library space in the past.

Date unknown. Dome is left untinted.	Sepia Albertype card.	Roosevelt Day ceremony.	1906 postmark. Kropp card image monochrome with print in red.
My duplicate copy has a 1906 postmark and entire back.	1912 postmark. Note red hand-coloring of dome.	1910 postmark. Untinted dome. Clearly evident are either shingles or else seams in the roofing material.	Unusual view from southwest corner.
Postmark probably 1919. Dome tinted magenta.	Different buildings in rear.	Snappy linen card by E.C. Kropp.	Scan retouched to fill in rounded corners. Dome tarnished aqua.

For years I believed the smaller building on the first cards, which is still standing, was the Carnegie building. Rockford's main library is in a pleasant, but undistinguished building. It was finished in 1962, and engulfed the Carnegie (1901 grant) building. However, I was unable to tell which section it comprised until the SW view revealed that the front had been modernized and another storey layered on the top. The river views make RPL a lovely place to spend time, which the homeless population of the city has also discovered.

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All text is under copyright by the author. Cards are presented for scholarly study: most are significantly older than 1928. You may link, and even deep-link to its pages, but you may not claim any part as your own nor link to individual images.

©2003 - 2012 Judy Aulik

Divided from N - R 19 April 2010.
Updated 03 March 2012.

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