Early Omaha: Gateway to the West

Carnegie South Branch Library - Opened 1915

In 1902, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie presented $50,000 to the City of South Omaha for a neighborhood library. Two years later, a distinguished gray stone Carnegie library opened near the heart of South Omaha at 23rd and M Streets. Community advocate Bruce McCulloch was the force behind the action. McCulloch had persuaded the South Omaha city council to provide $5,000 per year for maintenance if he could find a way to build a library. He found Andrew Carnegie and made a successful appeal to him on behalf of the community. A year later, the city purchased a lot and commissioned the architect Thomas Rogers Kimball to design the Carnegie library, which opened in December 1904.

When Omaha annexed South Omaha in 1915, the Carnegie library became the first branch of the Omaha Public Library. For 50 years, the library served the community well until it became run down and overcrowded with books. The City of Omaha razed the old Carnegie library in 1954 and built a contemporary new structure in its place.

The South Branch Library serves a large Hispanic population as it embraces and celebrates multiculturalism. The collection of books for children and teens numbers over 48,000 and families enjoy an abundance of cultural events at the little library in South Omaha.

Plans are underway for the South Branch and Metro Community College libraries to merge the two collections, increasing the ability of both to serve everyone even better.

Text from "Literary bites: 125 years and Still Cooking:
Omaha Public Library Cookbook"
Written by Cookbook and History Commitee, 2002

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