Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall

Capital Campaign
A New Vitality for its Second Century

The Chartiers Valley Partnership’s campaign to restore, renovate and revitalize the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall has captured the hopes, dreams and support of Carnegie and surrounding Chartiers Valley Communities.  We launched this effort in November 2003; the campaign has raised $3.9 million or 45% of its $8.6 million goal. Funding has come from federal, state, county, local government and foundations.  Remarkably, businesses and individuals from Carnegie and nearby communities have contributed nearly $900,000 or 23% of funding to date. 
(Capital Campaign Gifts as of Dec. 2006)
  

Indeed, Carnegie’s support of this campaign to restore the Library & Music Hall has assumed almost legendary proportions.  This campaign began with an anonymous $500,000 challenge grant.  The challenge was that Carnegie and neighboring communities must contribute a dollar for dollar match – in ten months time – to meet a September 30th deadline and secure the half million grant. In mid-September 2004, the campaign was just $45,000 short when disaster hit – the devastating flood that ravaged Carnegie and other Chartiers Valley communities.  Astonishingly, instead of stopping the challenge in its tracks, Carnegie contributed $60,000 in the two weeks after the flood to meet and exceed the challenge.
 

The century-old Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall’s role as the “beacon on the hill” for Carnegie and its neighbor’s has been re-affirmed for a second century of service.
 

We are transforming the historic landmark “Carnegie Carnegie.”  Phase I, completed last fall, made the building accessible, installed new restrooms, and upgraded mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems.  Phase II weatherproofing the building, will be completed this fall.  We’ve added French drains and sealed the foundations, and are finishing up on roof, gutters, cornices, eaves, and masonry restoration.
 

For too long heat, cold, wind, and occasionally rain and snow used to wander in and out of the Library & Reception Hall with impunity.  With the restoration of the last of the building 134 windows in December 2006 – probably the most beautiful feature of the ACFL&MH – Phase II is complete. It’s clearly still under construction, but the building has not looked this striking in decades. 
 

We are poised to begin Phase III, the long-awaited interior improvements to the Library & Music Hall.  Making the building welcoming, comfortable, and user-friendly, and desperately needed amenities such as air conditioning, adding the technological upgrades of a 21st century library and performance venue will transform the ACFL&MH into a mini-cultural district in its own right.
 

And as can be read throughout this website, the “Carnegie Carnegie” is not waiting for the completion of the campaign to enhance the quality and quantity of its programs and services.  The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall is already acting on this promise.  Scroll through to take to learn about the many programming opportunities.

We must keep the forward momentum going.  Restoring the Library & Music Hall is the catalyst for revitalizing Carnegie and nearby communities.  Restoring the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall honors the mandate Carnegie so eloquently delivered in the aftermath of 2004’s flood.
 

For more information about the capital campaign and ways you can help ensure the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall’s second century of service as the “beacon on the hill” for Carnegie and beyond, please contact Maggie Forbes at 412/276-3456, ext. 6.