11 August-Andrew Carnegie

Kilkenny City Library on John’s Quay Kilkenny was opened in November 1910 with the help of a grant of £2,100 from Andrew Carnegie. It was one of over 2,500 ‘Carnegie’ libraries established with the aid of Carnegie grants in the United States, Britain, Canada, Ireland and other English-speaking countries. The foundation stone had been laid in 1908 and in 1910 the library was handed over to Kilkenny Corporation.

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland on November 25^th 1835. His family moved to the United States when he was fifteen years old. They settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Andrew Carnegie began working on the railroad at an early age. He eventually became superintendent of the railroads in the Pittsburgh area. He began to make investments in various companies and by 1889 was the owner of the Carnegie Steel Corporation. His corporation became the largest of its kind in the world.

In 1901 Carnegie sold his business and devoted his time to philanthropic activities. One of those activities was supporting the establishment of libraries. He gave grants towards the establishment of 29 libraries in Ireland, including four in Dublin and three in Belfast. The foundation stone for the first ‘Carnegie library’ was laid in 1903 in the city of Waterford and the remainder were built in the following years.

Following completion of the Library building in Kilkenny, Lady Desart performed the opening ceremony. A silver key supplied by jeweller P.T. Murphy was used to open the library door on November 3^rd 1910. Membership of the library was free to residents of Kilkenny City. Together with his support for libraries Carnegie established six other large charitable foundations. The foundations provided support for various areas including, universities, theatres, child welfare centres and scientific research.

Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, died at the age of 83 in the year 1919 On This Day.