Library Postcards: Civic Pride in a Lost America

Carnegie Libraries of Wisconsin
Cities S - W

One would not think that 63 Carnegie libraries would require a third web page, but they do. This section begins with Shawano and goes through Wauwatosa, currently.

 Shawano

1914 grant, per Bobinski (1969). Replaced in 1960. Historical minutiae at the library's history page.

This 'un's a plain baby. The only visible decorative element is in the brickwork columns. And they skipped the lights of wisdom flanking the entrance.
Somehow, I think Andy wouldn't have minded.

E.C. Kropp card, craftily imitating the Curt Teich 'Blue Sky' line.

 Sheboygan

Built in 1904; replaced in 1974. Possibly demolished, but the Mead Library's not admitting that.

E.D. Deuss is the official publisher of the card, but I see the 'ECKCo' of the E.C. Kropp Company from downstate.

 South Milwaukee

Completed 1913, torn down ca. 1965.

Although the card labels this as the Milwaukee South Side Library, I think it's really the South Milwaukee Library. However, I take schadenfreude in the fact that the touted replacement building has been a dud. Merely 26 years later, the roof was leaking, and the windows were beginning to detach from their framing. The wiring was bad, and the building had to be totally renovated in 1994.

I wonder if such a thing (with the exception of wiring trouble) would have happened to the Carnegie building?

 Sparta

Slightly Richardsonesque touches on the Carnegie prescription. Built 1902: enlarged 1982. Still in use.

Both cards by E.C. Kropp of Milwaukee.

 Stevens Point

1902 Carnegie grant.

Stevens Point has always had a reverence for arcane knowledge - I think. Then I look at the Carnegie building. Even though this is central Wisconsin, they oughtn't've celebrated its heritage with a silo dome and barn ventilator.

Stevens Point's library history is a little difficult to fathom. Currently there is a Portage County Public Library, of which Charles M. White Library is a part. Yet, its web site is hosted by UW - Stevens Point.

 Stoughton

Built 1906 to a Claude and Starck design: carefully renovated in early 1990s by the Potter Design Group.
Stoughton's library is still in use: nearby Madison enables a level of service impossible when a collection is restricted by available space. Lefthand card postmarked 1909; righthand, 1913. Cards differ mainly in their hand coloring. 1909 card's right side lintels are tinted differently from those on the left, and from their actual shades.

 Sturgeon Bay

(L) 1911 Carnegie building lurking under tons of vines.
(R) Library au naturel

No longer functioning as a library.
Looking at the left hand card, I can't help cringing at the thought of bats in buns.

 Tomah

A 1916 deluxe Claude & Starck building, built from 1915 grant monies. Possibly still in use.
According to the card's first owner,
'This is where the Whitfield House used to be-'
I have no reason to doubt her.

 Two Rivers (Joseph Mann Library)

Replaced by the Lester Public Library in 1995.

1914 Carnegie grant. This Louis Sullivanesque building replaced the original Joseph Mann Library and was extensively remodeled over the years. I hope they didn't wreck the lovely entrance.

Its current function is unknown.

RPPC, mailed in 1914 to librarian Mrs. Cushman of the Reedsburg Public Library. 'Trivers' must have been all over that Carnegie money as soon as it came.

 Viroqua

Carnegie grant: 1904. Facade essentially obliterated in 1975, according to Larry Nix, library historian.

The library does not apparently have a web site, but knowing this card was sent in 1956 does make one suspect time's a bit slow in this city. Too bad it wasn't slow enough that someone would have realized that they had a little architectural gem.

 Watertown

By using the number and spacing of its windows, compare the size of this library to that of Stoughton, a city of approximately the same size 100 years ago; and to that of Waukesha, which was a booming spa town at the turn of the century. How did Watertown do so much more with its funding? Today, Watertown Public Library is actively seeking to expand its facility.

The Carnegie Library was built in 1907. Further history is available at the Watertown History web site. This card was mailed the same year, and the library looked like it was still under construction , an observation with which the site concurs. Note the lack of people and the solitary fire hydrant in the lower right hand corner.

 Waukesha

Today it's hard to distinguish the original 1904 Carnegie building from the additions updating Waukesha Public Library. It remains as one of the nicest reading rooms around, with extensive newspaper holdings and historical displays. But natural disasters have not been kind to Cutler Park which surrounds the facility. A freak windstorm uprooted many of its stately oaks in 1998. Building damage was limited, unlike that in its neighborhood.

 Waupaca

Very similar to the Durand and Kaukauna Libraries.

This was built using a 1913 Carnegie grant, and is no longer in use as a public library.

 Waupun

According the the library's website, this is one of 3 Wisconsin public libraries to trace back to its city's library association. According to Nix, it received its Carnegie grant in 1904. I guess one can't expect 100 years of gratitude.
Building in use as the Waupun Heritage Museum.

As an aside, it takes a special lunacy to hand color the hydrangeas to the left of the entrance in yellow and orange. For stark graphic realism, see the RPPC on the right.

 Wausau

'Made expressly for The Fair'	'The Leader'	'J. Rohde, Pub.'

Although the Carnegie grant came in 1903, this library looks as if it might have been built as a WPA project, especially in the card on the right, above.

Two pre-psychedelic era linen finish cards. I guess you had to send both to share the full experience of the Wausau Public Library.

The right-hand card, postmarked 1946, salutes the quality of maintenance of Wausau's municipal buildings. Indeed. Someone must have been hard at work to produce such a profusion of flowers in northern Wisconsin. Couldn't be another happy retouch artist, could it?

A 1974 merger leaves the Wausau branch as the flagship of the Marathon County Public Library.

 Wauwatosa

1905 - ?
(L) Postmarked 1909. Published locally by the Lefeber Bros., this card featured an extremely unusual library which resembled a large home, albeit a Neapolitan flavored one.
(R) German card published by A.C. Bosselman & Co., sent 1907. Its colors are a bit more plausible.

Today, Wauwatosa Public Library is in a large downtown building, last remodeled and expanded in 1992. It has no website that I could find. just the page on the county system's website.

Author's comments

To the best of my knowledge, the majority of these cards has reached the public domain by virtue of the postcards' age. I claim full copyright on the text, which may be used in citation only. Also, I claim copyright on the scans, although given their quality, you might wonder why. Most of the troublesome scans are of early works, not linen-finish cards.

I hope to update this site as I locate more cards and find more references.

© 2003 - 8 Judy Aulik

Uploaded as a subdivision, 02 July 2008.