The Garfield County Library, also known as the Burwell Carnegie Library, is a historic Carnegie library in

Burwell, Nebraska Burwell is a city in Garfield County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,210 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Garfield County. History Burwell was platted in 1883. In 1887, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2006. A library for the community of Burwell was a goal of the Burwell Woman's Literary Club, which was organized with 11 charter members in 1907. Correspondence with

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

and/or the Carnegie Foundation began by 1911; a condition was set that Burwell must create a tax for maintenance of the library, and the Village Board passed such an ordinance in January 1912. The project was supported enthsiasticly by the '' Burwell Tribune''. After delay from lost correspondence or miscommunication, the library plans were approved and a $5,000 grant for construction was authorized. The building is a one-story brick building with a raised basement, designed simply in accordance with preferences of James Bertram, Carnegie's secretary, who set design standards for the grant program after earlier projects seemed to waste funds on ornamentation. Decoration is achieved by use of cherry red brick being used for

corbelling In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...

and pseudo-

cornices In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and pseudo- pilasters, contrasting with yellow buff brick which is the main element. It is about in plan and has 22 windows. The building was built by contractor T.J. Pryor in 1914. With .

References

External links

* Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska Buildings and structures in Garfield County, Nebraska Carnegie libraries in Nebraska {{Nebraska-NRHP-stub