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Part two -
A CARNEGIE LIBRARY — The Syracuse Public Library, a Carnegie Library, is shown as it is today. Photo by Phoebe Muthart.
Carnegie’s legacy lives on at Syracuse Public Library
THE FOUNDER — Sarah Wright stands under a photo of Andrew Carnegie which is in the Syracuse-Turkey Creek Public Library and considered a Carnegie library. Photo by Phoebe Muthart.
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series on Kosciusko County’s Carnegie libraries: Warsaw, Syracuse and Milford public libraries. By PHOEBE MUTHART Editor As Andrew Carnegie once said, “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people.” Those words could not be truer for Syracuse-Turkey Creek Township Public Library. What began in a basement is now a thriving hub of activity. Soon, it will have a new home, as a new library is expected to be built in the near future. The First Library The first evidence of any type of library in Syracuse comes from the minutes of a town meeting in 1886. At the time, there was a circulating library with about 40 subscribers. In 1908, local Judge Lemuel Royse was petitioned to form a library board. The new board held its first meeting Oct. 24, 1908, and the library was organized in the basement of Syracuse School, formerly located across the street from the present library. On Nov. 2, the board hired Ida Knorr as librarian. The library occupied a single room in the basement and was open 15 hours a week. Most of the books
BACK IN THE DAY — Pictured is Syracuse-Turkey Creek Township Public Library’s Carnegie building as it appeared in the 1920s. Remodeling has changed much of its Carnegie appearance. Photo provided by Syracuse Public Library.
in the collection were gifts or donations. The original library opened Feb. 12, 1909. On Sept. 29, 1916, members of the library board decided to seek a grant from the Carnegie Foundation of New York for a free-standing public library in Syracuse. The Carnegie Corporation of New York offered Turkey Creek Township $10,000 for construction of a new standalone library building in February 1917. However, the township had to meet all the conditions of the Carnegie Formula. “Turkey Creek had to show that need,” said Sarah Wright,
communications specialist for Syracuse-Turkey Creek Township Public Library. First, the township needed to demonstrate a need for a freestanding building, which the cramped basement library clearly showed, she said. The second requirement was for the town to provide a building site. The library board purchased the current lot in 1918. The final condition required the community to annually provide 10% of the cost of the library’s construction to support operations. As a result, a tax levy was established in Turkey Creek Township for that purpose, and
the levy still supports the library today. “Most Carnegie libraries were usually built around the same time frame,” Wright said. They were primarily built between 1886 and 1919. Carnegie libraries symbolize democratic access to knowledge, philanthropy and community enlightenment, with architecture designed to elevate patrons through learning. There are five key symbolic and architectural elements, including lamp posts or lanterns. Situated near the main doorway, the lamps signified the library as a beacon of enlightenment in
the community. Over the years, the Syracuse library has undergone remodeling and renovation, both inside and outside. Wright said the library’s main entrance was expanded with an entrance staircase, one of Carnegie’s “symbols of access.” The addition occurred during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1990s, the southern portion of the library was added. “It gave us so much more room,” Wright said. Sometime in the 2010s, “we did a spruce-up,” she said. “We are constantly adapting.” The Future The library is preparing for a new home. A new library will be built at 705 N. Dolan Drive. “We could open in late 2026 or early 2027; that is when ground will be broken,” Wright said. The new bigger library will feature additional space, quiet study rooms, a meeting room and after-hours accessibility. Carnegie’s legacy will continue at the new library, Wright said. A portrait of Carnegie currently displayed in the library “will be coming with us,” she said. “We also plan to carry on Mr. Carnegie’s passion for learning and self-enlightenment in the new location,” she said. For more information, visit syracuse.lib.in.us.