Santa Maria Libraries

Santa Maria Libraries. . , A $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie financed Santa Maria's first public library in 1908. The Ladies Literary Society, now the Minerva Club, began the effort with letters to the steel magnate in 1901, and later enlisted the City Council's help. Carnegie gave millions of dollars for more than 1,600 libraries between 1889 and 1923. He required local officials to support the buildings with tax funds, and he required communities to provide sites for these buildings. Citizen donations supplemented city funds to purchase a lot for the library and park at Broadway and Cook streets. The Classical Revival style building served until 1941, when a larger library (pictured in the middle) was constructed adjacent to it. The original “Carnegie Library” became a USO Center during the war, then a community youth center. It was demolished in 1966. These two libraries were located to the north of the existing 60,000 square foot Santa Maria Public Library.