Expensive to maintain, many of Ohio’s are now gone. In Coshocton and Middletown, in Butler County, Carnegie buildings are crumbling and condemned.
“It’s very sad for me,” said Armentrout, a librarian at OhioHealth. “Unfortunately, in many cases there’s nothing that can be done other than condemn the building and wait for it to collapse. It seems that both of these communities could have saved these buildings long ago had they been organized enough to do it.”
Sometimes the old buildings are purchased as a way to prevent their destruction.
From Carnegie’s huge library investment still felt in Ohio | The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio’s Libraries
When I started my business (In My Book) back in 2000, some of my best customers were libraries in OH that bought cards for their library shops. Many library shops have closed or don’t have the means to add non-books to their inventory. I think Andrew Carnegie would not have wanted his wonderful buildings used for commercial purposes and it’s sad to contemplate the difficult situation these libraries and libraries around the country find themselves in.
Conneaut’s Carnegie Library
The Carnegie building in Conneaut is in disrepair and the library doesn’t occupy it anymore. Technically it counts as vacant commercial real estate. There was a sign posted a couple years ago when there was an attempt to sell it. Vandalism to the property since the library moved out to a new building hasn’t helped it being able to be sold.