Qualla: Carnegie Public Library, Huntington

Carnegie Public Library, Huntington: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jrappold, CC BY-SA 3.0. Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy built more than 2,500 public library buildings across the United States and beyond. Huntington, West Virginia got one in 1903 - the first public library in Cabell County, completed at Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street in classical Beaux-Arts style. The library served the community for seventy-seven years before a new building opened across the street in 1980. But the Carnegie's most curious chapter happened on its front lawn in 1915, when a statue of a Union soldier disappeared from its base in the middle of a controversy over plans to put up a Confederate monument elsewhere in town. Witnesses saw the statue loaded into a wagon. After that, nobody saw it again.

Image: Jrappold | CC BY-SA 3.0

Carnegie Public Library, Huntington: Carnegie's Gift

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wv funnyman, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the library was built, no public library existed in Huntington or Cabell County. The only library in the city was a small collection at the First Congregational Church. Andrew Carnegie's library program had a standard pattern: the steel baron's foundation would fund the cons...

Image: Wv funnyman | CC BY-SA 4.0

Carnegie Public Library, Huntington: The Union Soldier

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot, CC0. Until 1915, a statue of a Union soldier stood at the library's southwest corner. The monument appears in postcards from the early twentieth century, helping to date its presence. It was probably erected by the Grand Army of the Republic - the veterans organization for Union soldi...

Image: Daderot | CC0

Carnegie Public Library, Huntington: The 1915 Disappearance

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dave Parker, CC BY-SA 2.5. In 1915, plans were announced to build a Confederate monument at Ritter Park, also in Huntington. The plan was controversial. To many Huntingtonians, putting up a Confederate memorial in a city in a state that had explicitly rejected the Confederacy felt strange at best and polit...

Image: Dave Parker | CC BY-SA 2.5

Carnegie Public Library, Huntington: The Library After 1980

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kuyler McComas (Kuyman), CC BY-SA 3.0. The Carnegie served as Huntington's public library until 1980, when the new Cabell County Public Library opened across the street. The transition is a story that has played out at Carnegie libraries across the country. The 1903 building, designed for a smaller collection and a di...

Image: Kuyler McComas (Kuyman) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Carnegie Public Library, Huntington: The Corner Today

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wv funnyman, CC BY-SA 4.0. From above, the Carnegie sits at a corner that retains much of its early-twentieth-century character. Fifth Avenue runs east-west; Ninth Street runs north-south. The intersection is several blocks from Marshall University's campus and a similar distance from the Ohio River waterf...

Image: Wv funnyman | CC BY-SA 4.0