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= Hillsboro Carnegie Library = The former Hillsboro Public Library Building is a Carnegie Library located at 214 School Street in Hillsboro, Illinois. The library was built in 1904 and opened to the public on October 10, 1905. In 2016, the Hillsboro Public Library Board purchased a vacant bank building on Hillsboro's Main Street. Their renovation and construction for a new library finalized in late 2021. The former Carnegie Library was sold in December 2021 to local entrepreneur, Tommy Justison, who has a plan to see the building into its next generations as a nonprofit foundation headquarters and local museum.

History
It might be said that the Hillsboro Library had its inception in 1858 when postmaster Joseph Rolston kept a small collection of books which he proposed to use as a circulating library. Hillsboro had long pressed for a public library formally beginning with the use of the old Hillsboro Academy building, for which the Carnegie Building was designed to emulate. The Hillsboro Academy was the first center of higher learning in Montgomery County and one of the first in the state. Although the building had been rented to the school directors, the Hillsboro Academy trustees continued to maintain the property and operate the rental library which was located in part of the building. On Sept 15, 1883, the city trustees voted to "open the library for letting out books on Saturday afternoon of each week from 1 to 4½ o'clock." Book rental rates were set at 10 cents a week or 15 cents for two weeks, with the high school students having full use of the library free of charge. Warrick Edwards was named as librarian at a weekly salary of $1, payable out of rental fees and fines.

On May 18, 1887, the old Academy was deeded to the trustees of the Hillsboro Schools with the stipulation that the property would revert back to the city when no longer used for school purposes. Thus, definite action for a true public library did not crystallize until 1895, when a meeting was called to plan for the establishment of a "Reading Room and Library." Space in the Corner Block Building was donated by John M. Whitehead, and the reading room was officially opened to the public on October 10, 1895. It would be exactly ten years to the day that the new Carnegie Library would welcome its first patrons.

Mr. Carnegie's Gift
In 1903 the citizens of Hillsboro voted to accept Andrew Carnegie's gift of $10,000 for a library building after intense discussions over the ethical concerns of accepting such a grant from the industrial titan. Selection of a building site brought on considerable discussion among members of the library board and members of the city council. There was strong sentiment for placing the new library on a lot in Tillson Place in Hillsboro but after some controversy it was decided to build on the site donated by John M. Whitehead. According to a letter from Mr. Carnegie's office dated, Nov. 25th, 1903, to Mrs. A.M. Howell, President of the Public Library, Mr. Andrew Carnegie agreed to "Furnish Ten Thousand Dollars to erect a Free Public Library Building for Hillsboro," given that the city agree by "Resolution of Council to maintain a Free Public Library at cost of not less than One Thousand Dollars a year," to support the library's upkeep and maintenance yearly. Payments for the new building came in installments of $2,000 or $3,000 from the Home Trust Company in Hoboken New Jersey authorized by Mr. Carnegie.

The new building, which was to be a monument to the old Hillsboro Academy, was designed by renowned architect Paul O. Moratz of Bloomington, Illinois. I. M. Garthwait was the contractor, H. B. McCoy the superintendent of construction. The building was designed in the Neo-Classical Style.

The building was described in the February 10, 1905 edition of The Montgomery News as being:

"Constructed of grey pressed brick, and measuring 35 feet ten inches including the beautiful porch which is 10 feet deep and 37 feet wide. The seven steps which extend the entire width of the building and up to the front porch, are made of granitoid, as is the floor of the porch. The four fluted solid stone ionic column s measure 21 inches in diameter and are 15 feet high.

The building is a credit to any town and the interior arrangement is beautiful, roomy, light and could not be bettered. Upon entering the vestibule in front of the building, the first thing that attracts the eye of the visitor is the beautiful quarter sawed oak woodwork with which the interior of the building is finished. The big reading room with its two beautiful grates, one on the east and one on the west next attracts one’s attention. This room is 32½ feet square and around the walls can be seen the shelves for books, three shelves in height running around the room on three sides: on the north, east and west. These shelves are all quarter sawed oak and match perfectly the mantles over the grates. These mantles were made to order and measure 9 feet 9 inches in height by 6 feet 8 inches in width. On each side of the two grates to be found in the room are fluted columns with, Ionic capitals. the columns measuring 7 inches in diameter. The tile used in the grates is especially artistic being of a dark sea green color and of a velvet embossed finish.

The floor of the reading room is of oiled hard maple and makes a beautiful as well as durable finish. The white ceiling will be decorated at a later date. This ceiling is divided into nine separate panels with cross beams falling below the level of the ceiling, and with an electric chandelier at the intersection of these cross beams, making a total of four such lights in the ceiling of the reading room.

On the northeast corner of the first floor is the magazine room and on the northwest is a reference room, both of these rooms measuring 11½ feet by 9 feet, and these two rooms, together with the main reading room, contain 360 feet of shelving which will accommodate all of the books of our Public Library, and many more.

On the South side of the first floor, in the center of the building, is a secretary’s office, while in the southwest corner is a room provided for the Library Board. On the opposite side are the steps leading to the basement and also a small room to be used as a lavatory. The room for the librarian measures 15 x 11½ feet, the room for the Board 11½ feet and the lavatory 3 x 7 feet.

All of the woodwork of these rooms is quarter sawed oak, antique finish, and the circular desk in the librarian's office is very artistic.

The ceiling in all the five rooms of the first floor is 16 feet in height and finished white, ready for the fresco work.

A door on the east side of the main room, leads to the street. This door also leads to the basement, where four big rooms are to be found. One of these rooms running the width of the building and measuring 22 x 32½ feet is to be used as a club room, while the room on the south of this is the furnace room, and still south of this room are two room, one to be used for fuel and the other as a storeroom. The furnace room is 12½ x 25 feet, the fuel room is 10 x 15½ and the work room 14½ x 15½ with a closet on the southeast which can someday be converted into a lavatory. The hall leading to the basement rooms measures 6½ x 22 feet.

The windows of the basement are of good size and afford ample light for reading or for any use to which the rooms may be put. There are four big windows on the east and four on the west of the main reading room on the first floor, and these windows measure 44 x 64 inches, while over these bill windows are art glass transoms measuring 44 x 64 inches, giving the windows a unique effect and permitting the very best plan for ventilation. The openings leading from the reading room or main room to the reference, the magazine and the librarian's room are 15 feet square and on each side of the openings are immense Grecian columns of Ionic design surmounted by carved capitals, all in quarter sawed oak, producing a rich and beautiful effect.

The extreme depth of the library is 76 feet 10 inches, by 35 feet 10 inches in width and it measures 35 feet 6 inches from the ground to the highest point of the roof. The base being of grey sandstone set on a twenty-inch foundation and the walls above are sixteen inches in thickness. The cornice and roof are made of pressed sheet steel, painted to match the grey pressed brick exterior. On the west side of the front door is a bronze tablet set in the face of the wall and on which is the following inscription:

Andrew Carnegie

Building Gift $10,000.00, 1904

Site Gift

John M. Whitehead"

Contemporary Modernization
Despite the addition of railings, new exterior illumination and the decommissioning and loss of one of the building's original chimneys, the library remained relatively "unchanged" until 1979 when a major remodeling took place. This remodeling and modernization was comprehensive, yet damaging to the overall historical integrity of the building. During this time the basement became open to the public housing a large non-fiction collection, an office for the Librarian and the genealogy department. The former magazine room was dismantled and repurposed with a book lift and interior stairway leading to the basement. The finished basement included an expanded children's section complete with a wall mural comprised of various animals. There was a bathroom added both upstairs and downstairs and the former fuel room became a genealogy and computer room. An elevator was later added to allow greater access to the building and the granitoid that once covered the steps and porch was replaced by concrete filler. The original circulation desk was sold into a private collection during this time and the once-prominent electric chandeliers were replaced by ceiling-mounted panel lighting. The outer pediment, cornice, frieze and architrave, all of unique design to emulate a neoclassical temple, were all destroyed in this renovation and replaced by cheaper white aluminum siding that featured the library's "Public Library" sign in wood and a carved book which was similar to that of the pediment design of the former Hillsboro Academy.

Library Retirement and Future
In December 2021, the Hillsboro Public Library was sold to local entrepreneur, Tommy Justison, of Hillsboro. The Hillsboro Public Library Board purchased the old Hillsboro National Bank building during a 2016 auction with the hopes of renovating the building into a more contemporary library with greater access to the community on Main Street. Over the course of five years, the library board diligently raised monies and applied for grants to renovate the building and construction was complete in early December, 2021.

The building, for the first time since its inception almost 117 years ago, no longer serves the public as a Carnegie Library. There is ongoing historical preservation and development in the work by Justison to found a nonprofit foundation and the current desire is to see the building utilized dually as an office and museum one day again open to the public.