Carnegie Libary Traditional Geocache
Woodie1976: i have to archive this cache because i will no longer be able to maintain it due to moving :-(
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I'm going to make this one simple, I'm telling you where its at because I want as many people to see this building as possible. The Carnegie Building is a Very important building in town and the current owner saved it from being destroyed. The cache is in the tree to the right of the sidewalk walking up to the building. There is no need to search around other than the tree. Don't forget a pen and the muggles are all friendly :-)
A Hearsay History of Monticello's Carnegie Building:
In the late nineteenth century, a group of civic-minded ladies started a lending library that was rotated among their homes. When Andrew Carnegie began funding public libraries, a Monticello group asked him for a library. He offered a grant of $10,000 on condition that it was matched. The matching funds were raised, albeit partly in donated land; construction began in 1903 and the Monticello Public Library opened in 1904. (No nonsense then about naming a facility for the man who donated half the cost.) Early photo of Carnegie Bldg.
The Carnegie was designed with room for a library to grow. For over fifty years, the library's collection grew in its confines. Unfortunately, there were other problems: The brick shown above was not a veneer, but the very structure of the building, laid in three thicknesses. Local lore has it that the local brick was not baked hot enough to use as an exterior surface. This is why the stucco veneer you see today was added. (When?) By the 1960s, that hot new decorating material, panelling, was installed over the plaster walls, and wall-to-wall carpeting covered the wooden floors. Generally these "improvements" were not made unless there were problems to be hidden. Judging by the walls' condition in 2008, water had caused the plaster to deteriorate. The condition of the floors is still not known; while the shabby carpet is gone, the upper story's floors remain covered by the fiberboard underlayment of the carpet. As funds permit, we hope to return the Carnegie to having floors of local wood.
By 1980, the collection had grown to the point that additional shelving units were needed. As the walls were full, the new units had to be placed in the center of the large reading rooms. Books are heavy! This led to greater stresses on the floor joists than had been originally intended; over time the floor joists began to sag. The library's Board of the late 1980s began to study expansion and renovation. Eventually, a later library Board decided on a new facility rather than expansion. In all the unmentioned nonsense, the Carnegie's 2004 centennial was ignored. What a pity.
When Zumbach bought the Carnegie, he removed the dropped ceilings, carpeting, panelling and ruined plaster. New, insulated walls were erected throughout the interior; the facility was re-wired and additional plumbing was added. The original floor plan has been retained. Because the walls are now thicker than the originals, there is a gap between the window frames and any window trim. As funds permit (a common phrase around here), we will have spacers fitted and stained to match the original trim.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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