Andrew Carnegie who became one of the richest men in the United States in the early 1900s has a connection with Dillon County.
Perhaps fellow readers will connect Andrew Carnegie with his philanthropy or at least how he used his vast fortune. Mr. Carnegie who emigrated from Scotland in 1848 was the Warren Buffett or Bill Gates of his day. He believed that his billion$ (in today’s currency) of wealth should be used for the benefit of mankind, and he went about furthering this belief in various ways. If you are musically inclined, you will undoubtedly know that those who excel in their art, crown their achievement by performing in New York’s Carnegie Hall, founded by Mr. Carnegie. Dillon County residents and especially the Dillon High School Class of 1946 will recall that a local Minturn native and renown concert pianist Robert (Bobby) MacDonald gave a recital (“he wowed them”) at this hallowed hall in the early 1960s and went on to perform all over the world including the Latta Auditorium, a performance attended by many of his fans/friends.
Many will remember that in addition to recognizing many other causes, Mr. Carnegie also funded the Carnegie Hero Fund which honors those heroes who have performed unselfish and significant acts of courage. Occasionally we read about such a hero who has been recognized and awarded the Carnegie Medal on which is engraved the Bible verse John 15:13. But what is the great man’s local connection?
Latta, SC was then a poor, mostly agricultural small town of around 1500+ citizens, but despite that, in the second decade of the 20th century a group of apparently educated citizens had learned (perhaps by reading about it in the HERALD?) of the largesse of steel baron Mr. Andrew Carnegie whose aim was to provide for and promote literacy in this country by giving money to communities which would then be used to build and establish public libraries. A minister along with other Latta civic minded residents interested in the project wrote what today would be called a grant application and submitted it to the Carnegie Foundation. And waited.
The application had to address many questions such as how the library when once built would be funded and staffed along with the willingness of the community to provide for its long term financing. To meet this requirement and to secure a building site, the town agreed to raise the money (a maintenance fund of $500 a considerable sum back then) by levying a one mill tax on all property in the Latta School District. Mr. Carnegie approved the application (granted April 3, 1912) and provided $5000 for the construction of the library to be completed by March 14, 1915. Reportedly it was one of the last grants issued by the Carnegie Foundation.
This essentially became the headquarters of the Dillon County Library system until it was moved to the new Main (Headquarters) Dillon County (Dunbar) Library April 9, 2000. Over the years, the Latta Library has been renovated twice, once in 1936 and again in 1955. It is centrally located in the historically preserved area of this proud town.
Today the Dillon County Library System consists of three libraries, the Main Library in Dillon, the Sadie M. Carmichael Library in Lake View and the Carnegie Library in Latta. The system’s total adult books’ circulation in June, 2013 was 5973; the total juvenile circulation was 5423. The budget for 2012-2013 amounted to $472,227.89. The 3 libraries are today all technologically updated and professionally staffed. A Library Board of Trustees is appointed by the County Council to oversee along with the Library Director the overall library operations.
Next year will be the Centennial, the 100th birthday of the Carnegie Latta Library (1914-2014), a worthy cause for celebration.
Andrew would be proud.
As a citizen of the county, you are invited/encouraged to take advantage of your library’s many available resources, most without cost to library patrons.
It’s the best bargain in the county.
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128, Hamer, SC 29547
