USX Corporation, the successor to U.S. Steel, continued to provide major support until 1988, when the corporation terminated its regular donations and the Borough of Munhall assumed responsibilityfor the library. Despite the closing of the Homestead Steel Works two years earlier and the precipitous decline in employment and tax revenue, the library remained open and operational with grants secured by community volunteers and the investment income from Carnegie's endowment. When the financial crash of 2008 reduced the value of the endowment by $300,000, the library board furloughed its executive employees and assumed management responsibilities rather than cut services. Fundraising efforts, revenue from athletic club memberships, music hall rentals, and concession sales have maintained the library's viability.[3]
The Carnegie Library of Homestead is a public library founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1896. The branch is one of 2,500 Carnegie libraries constructed worldwide, and the third one to be built in the USA.[2] In addition to the library holding over 34,000 volumes, the building also contains a 1,000 seat music hall and an athletic wing with a heated indoor pool.
the athletic club at the carnegie library of homestead
Industrialist Andrew Carnegie funded the project and construction began in April 1896. While future Carnegie libraries would be philanthropic donations, the Homestead project was intended to serve the workers and families of the steel mills located nearby, many of whom lived in the community. The building was designed by Pittsburgh architects Frank Alden and Alfred Harlow and constructed by William Miller and Sons. The project cost $300,000 and consisted not only of the library, but a 1,000-seat music hall and athletic wing that included a swimming pool.[3]
More than a library, it is a genuine community center with an athletic club (including a heated indoor pool) and music hall. It was built, in part, as a response to the bloody and violent 1892 labor strike at the Homestead Steel Works which Carnegie owned. The library was constructed on a hill that overlooked the mill, most of which has been demolished and replaced with a shopping center and a water park. 2ff7e9595c
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