The Long Beach Carnegie Library circa 1908.
2:01pm | The public is invited to attend the unveiling of the cornerstone and time capsule laid in 1908 for the Carnegie Library, Long Beach’s main public library, next weekend.
Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske rescued the historic granite cornerstone when she spotted it in an inventory she had requested of the city’s public service before it was sold.
“As we celebrate the centennial of the first transcontinental flight this year in Long Beach, I thought bringing this cornerstone back for the public would give one more glimpse of how progressive the city was from its beginnings,” Schipske said in a statement.
That cornerstone was only three years old when Calbraith “Cal” Rodgers flew nearby on Dec. 10, 1911, to complete his historic first transcontinental flight aboard the Vin Fiz.
The City Library Services is helping celebrate its relocation as part of several events in 2011 to celebrate the flight, which took off from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on Sept. 17, 1911 and landed in Long Beach on Dec. 10, 1911.
An “aviation book list” is also being released so that residents can read along and learn about the history of aviation in Long Beach.
The cornerstone and a time capsule that was inside will be unveiled on Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Main Long Beach Library at 11 a.m. The contents of the time capsule include:
- A Siamese cigarette holder and case
- Light’s golden jubilee – light bulb
- A rendering of the Carnegie Library by architect Franklin Pierce Burnham
- A picture of Burnham
- A picture of Mayor Charles H. Windham (1908-1912)
- A Long Beach Festival of the Sea program
- A souvenir book from the Long Beach Festival of the Sea
- An invitation to the laying of the cornerstone
- The Long Beach Press dated Sept. 4, 1908
- The Daily Telegram dated Sept. 4, 1908
- History of the Long Beach Public Library by George Mortimer Roe
- The Librarian’s Statistical Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908
Early on, Long Beach residents were committed to providing public access to books. The books of a Women’s Christian Temperance Union library became the nucleus for the Long Beach Library Association in 1895. The library occupied a succession of sites until the city incorporated in 1897 and it moved into City Hall.
In 1908, the Carnegie Foundation offered the city $12,500 to build a library. Andrew Carnegie, the 19th Century steel tycoon who became one of the 20th Century’s most famous philanthropists, believed the affluent were obliged to use their surplus wealth for the improvement of mankind. So he funded more than 2,000 free libraries around the world, including more than 1,900 in the United States, 144 of which were located in California.
“Long Beach had been growing steadily since the Civil War,” Schipske said. “The land was inexpensive, it was a prime seaside resort, it had the Walk of A Thousand Lights amusement park and bathhouse and what quickly became a major shipping port. By 1910, Long Beach was ranked the fastest-growing city in the United States.”
A site for the library was obtained after much controversy.
“The land was granted for park use only and so the city had to get a waiver to build the library,” said Schipske.
The site was home to “Minnie,” the skeleton of a dead, 63-foot-long finback whale found in the surf in 1897*. Once the waiver was secured, the city committed to pay $3,000 per year to run the library.
After much correspondence, the Carnegie Foundation increased its contribution to $30,000, and a deal was made. The library ultimately cost $34,000 to build. Architect F.P. Burnham designed the library in the Classical Revival style. The cornerstone was laid in 1908, with the library opening the following year. Carnegie visited the library in 1910.
The city was planning to build a new library 63 years later, in 1972, when a fire struck and damaged the old Carnegie building. The granite cornerstone of the library that Carnegie helped create was salvaged when the building was demolished in 1973. .
* A boy identified as “barefoot Charlie” reportedly spotted the whale’s carcass bobbing in the surf on May 4, 1897. A moving company towed the whale to shore, and it wound up at what would be the library site. It became one of the city’s first tourist attractions. Newspapers recalled people dressing in their Sunday best to have their pictures taken next to the whale. One owner paid kids to cut the meat and blubber off her bones and only a skeleton was left. Nevertheless, the smell was horrible. The skeleton was moved to a building adjacent to Colorado Lagoon and eventually wound up at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, which at that time did not have a finback whale skeleton.