While Carnegie business owners and residents fight to recuperate from disastrous floods, a glimmer of hope and revitalization shines at the top of a hill.
Supporters of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall campaign have met a $500,000 matching grant challenge made by an anonymous donor.
Carnegie Mayor Jim Pascoe this week presented fund-raisers with a $5,000 check from money raised at last month's Arts and Heritage Festival, pushing the campaign over the top. A flurry of last-minute donations totaling $58,000 helped the campaign exceed its goal by today's deadline to qualify for the $500,000 gift.
Pascoe said the success of the campaign is critical to Carnegie's future.
"Carnegie is down right now, but not out," he said. "The library and music hall had a community challenge. We'd promised support from the festival, and we weren't going to miss that deadline. That building on the hill is more important to Carnegie than ever."
The library, on Beechwood Avenue, looks much as it did when it opened in 1901 after a gift from industrialist Andrew Carnegie. In addition to the library, the building houses a large music hall considered acoustically perfect when it opened, a Civil War room where veterans in a Grand Army of the Republic post once met, a gymnasium and a lecture hall.
Although the library is functional, the building shows signs of age and wear.
The campaign, which began in 2001, is the library's first major capital fund-raising effort in its 103-year history.
With the matching grant, $2.4 million -- or 27 percent of the $8.6 million goal -- has been raised. Nearly half the total is expected to come from state and federal grants.
Work on installation of an elevator, mechanical upgrades, new restrooms and accessibility for the handicapped is scheduled to begin in October.
Maggie Forbes, acting executive director and fund-raising campaign manager, said no one pulled back a pledge because of the flood.
"I am so inspired by the community response," she said. "This is a very important facility for a very important town."
Business owners met last week at the library to discuss how to recover from the flood.
"I grew up with the (library) as the heart of the town. I know what it means to Carnegie," said William Manby, a co-chairman of the campaign. "When business owners met there last week after Ivan's aftermath, I understood that it's imperative that we keep that heart strong, vital and connected to the community,"
