Learn How St. Cloud’s Library Came To Be

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- You can learn more about the history of the St. Cloud Library at an event on Thursday. The Stearns History Museum is hosting "From Carnegie to Community: Our Public Library." The event is the latest in the museum's History Unboxed series.

The program will let people discover how St. Cloud's Public Library came to be. Museum Librarian Miranda Stueckrath says they have a lot of great library artifacts:

"Plus, again, those original plans and architectural drawings and all of the little budget documentation and letters between people. And in our ephemera collection, of course we'll have some library cards, some checkouts, and fines, and things like that, so really just a mix of things that you can imagine of what we've got here."

Stueckrath says there will be a brief presentation with some stories, and then people will be able to check out all the items on display.

She says most people don't realize what a boost it was for St. Cloud to have Andrew Carnegie donate the money to get the library started:

"For example, Carnegie gave us $25,000. Now in modern-day money, that's just under a million dollars, so imagine right now we just got a random million dollars for our public library from some billionaire; that would be a life-changing amount for the library."

Stueckrath says Carnegie required the city to provide the land and $2,500 in annual maintenance, which is about $100,000 in today's money. James J. Hill also donated money to build the St. Cloud Library.

"From Carnegie to Community: Our Public Library takes place at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday at the Stearns History Museum. It costs $5.00 to attend or is free for museum members.

Fireplace from the original St. Cloud Library, PHOTO courtesy of Stearns History Museum.

Stearns History Museum