Salem Government #33: Carnegie Public Library

State Street at Winter Street SE

Carnegie Public Library on September 4, 2006

The Salem Public Library was established by the Salem Women's Club in 1903, and it opened in a room of the high school in 1904. This lot was purchased for the library in May 1909. In November 1910, the Women's Club applied for a $27,500 grant from the Carnegie Foundation for a library building, and started a fundraising drive to match the Carnegie Grant. In September 1912, the new $55,000 Salem Public Library opened. The building remained in use as a library until 1972, when the new library at the Civic Center opened, with 20 times the floor space. The building was used by the Salem YWCA until 2005. Willamette University purchased it, with plans to refurbish it into the Willamette College of Law's Oregon Civic Justice Center by October, 2008.

Additional Links:
Salem Public Library at Salem Online History

Historical Photos:
Carnegie Public Library, 1912 (Salem Public Library)
Carnegie Public Library, April 1955 (Salem Public Library)
Carnegie Public Library, 1962 (Salem Public Library)

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