Sonoma County’s historic Carnegie libraries

At the turn of the 19th century a number of public and university libraries were built around the globe with financing from grants generously provided by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Of the 2,509 libraries funded between 1883 and 1929, 1,689 were built in the United States - five of them in Sonoma County.

A Carnegie Library often was the most imposing structure in the hundreds of small towns they were built in. They displayed a number of architectural styles, including beaux-arts, Italian Renaissance, baroque, classical revival, and Spanish colonial. Each style was chosen by the community in which the library was built.

Famed local architect Brainerd Jones designed three Carnegie libraries in Sonoma County, including the Petaluma and Healdsburg branches, which remain standing and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Petaluma Carnegie Library, now home to the Petaluma Historical Museum, celebrates this month its 112th birthday.

Open through December, the exhibit, “The Petaluma Historical Library & Museum: A Story of Civic Progress & Pride,” tells the story of the Carnegie Library’s founding and its transformation into a museum dedicated to the preservation of Petaluma’s history and cultural heritage.