Albany's Carnegie library made room for books, lunch, and a trip to town

Albany’s Carnegie library was meant to do more than hold books. Its National Register nomination says the original basement plan included a City Council meeting room and a waiting room for women and children coming into town. They could leave packages there, eat lunch, and take a break before heading home.

Andrew Carnegie first pledged $10,000 for the building, then increased the gift to $12,500 as the project grew. St. Joseph architect Edmond J. Eckel designed it, and the library opened on March 1, 1906.

The red-brick building stands at 101 West Clay Street, one block from the courthouse square. Its old waiting room explains why a library mattered in a county-seat town: it offered books, but it also gave people from the country a place of their own while they were in Albany.