Beatrice City Library: Carnegie's First in Nebraska

The Carnegie building in Beatrice, Nebraska is a historic Carnegie library. Andrew Carnegie's library philanthropy ultimately funded over twenty-five hundred library buildings across the English-speaking world, and Beatrice received one of them, a grant made in nineteen oh two. The Beatrice library had roots going back to eighteen seventy-three, when suffragist Clara Bewick Colby organized a free library here. The Carnegie building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in nineteen seventy-six, and it now serves as the Chamber of Commerce and tourist center.