Andrew Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men in history. He had built a massive fortune in the American steel industry and sold his company to J.P. Morgan for $480 million in 1901, making him briefly the richest man in the world. But instead of keeping his fortune, he gave much of it away - and one of his biggest projects was building libraries. He spent his final years giving away about 90 percent of his wealth. Between 1883 and 1929, he funded 2,509 public libraries across the English‑speaking world, spending over $56 million.
The deal came with rules: towns had to provide the land, ensure the libraries remained free, and commit 10% of construction costs to annual maintenance. It was a partnership, not a handout. More than a century later, 911 of his U.S. libraries are still functioning as libraries. A legacy that still opens doors - and minds.
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Did a lot of research for debate in his library in Selma, Alabama. Think it's a civil rights museum or some such now. Beautiful building.
ReplyDeleteCarnegie steel controlled it all. The steel mills, the iron ore mines, the coal mines, the railroads that carried the iron ore to the docks, the ships that carried the iron ore and the railroads that transported the coal to the factory.
ReplyDeleteDon't expect Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg or Thiel to do anything remotely similar.
ReplyDeleteBack then people saw money as means to do good.
Carnegie built libraries, Julius Rosenwald (Sears) funded and built over 5,300 schools for Black children across the segregated American South. .J.P. Morgan financed and heavily built up the Metropolitan Museum of Art to give the public free, direct access to world-class art and culture. Rockefeller used his family fortune to purchase and donate vast tracts of land for national parks, including Grand Teton National Park and Acadia National Park.
We still have a Carnegie library (Although it has been expanded upon) in my little town of Bloomfield, IA.
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