Carnegie libraries visited: Marion, South Carolina
South Carolina is not a library desert, but it's not far from it. Only fourteen Carnegie public libraries were built there -- compared to 156 in Indiana -- and only five continue to serve the public. I visited the library in Marion. It's a good example of the Carnegie style, which is the marriage of a temple to a bank. Virtually all Carnegie's have a central entrance at the top of a set of stairs. The symbolism is that the visitor is walking into an almost sacred space; those in wheelchairs would not be guaranteed access until the ADA was enacted in 1990, and then only if the building was remodeled.
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