Andrew Carnegie and the Denver Public Library opening that never happened

Blog Topics

Comments

I remember my sister taking me there in the '50's and I marveled at the inlaid glass in the floors.

We've seen the pictures but can only imagine how spectacular they must have been in person. Sadly, the glass floors have not been restored. Thanks for sharing that memory with us!

It sounds like they placed a time capsule in the cornerstone. I'm so curious to know if it was ever opened!

That's the kind of thing that comes up when you dig deep into DPL archives!

Brian, I remember that prior to opening of the 1956 building (yes, that's correct in spite of the 1955 shown on the exterior) the books were moved from the original building by means of a long elevated conveyor belt installed across Civic Center Park.

Hi Ralph - You are correct. A conveyor belt stretched across Civic Center to bring books from the old building to the new one. Pretty impressive feat! Thanks for reading and commenting!

I find it odd that that the builder of the library, Gustav Wilke, is not mentioned in any of the DPL archives. Sure, Carnegie funded the project, but the builder should be mentioned somewhere.

I have a gate leg table made from the bannisters of a house torn down to make way for the libraray. Table made by Jess B Warfel 1852-1928. Jess.. I love your table, it still brings joy in 2021

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.