No other building in the downtown area holds so many memories for us. The library has stood guard over the central squre for many years and is a fine example of the Carnegie Library style of archeticture. It has been recently remodeled to add the much need floor space of a modern library, but the Library Board made sure that the addition to this building blended well with the original structure.
As children there was no greater adventure than a trip to the library and when we got old enough we were allowed to climb the steel spiral staircase to the second floor racks of books. The walkways on this level were frosted glass and made it more of an adventure, imagine, "walking on a glass floor!" The front of the building sported very large broad sides to the steps that provided opportunites for climbing and sliding.
If you would like a full size scan of this card for your personal use please send e-mail and we will make it available to you. We do not honor requests for scans to be used in commercial ventures.
The picture below was taken February 23, 2005 and shows the most significant change to the library from this south face. When an addition to the structure was needed it was determined that the front steps needed to go and this is the resulting facade. Although we agree that the old steps did not serve the library nearly as well as the new entrance on the east side of the building, we do believe that this alteration changed some of the character of the building. We were pleased to see that the architect and builders used great care in reconstructing the front in a way that it does not have an obvious scar where the stairs were removed.
The wider angle shot below shows the west side of the library with its new addition, which was erected in 1995.
If you entered this page directly you can find more about our hometown of Estherville by clicking here and look for the hometown page link.