For sale soon: Historic library building
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 02:23 p.m., December 31, 2007
Updated 02:23 p.m., December 31, 2007
Sometime in 2008, Emporia State will probably be looking to sell the historic Anderson Memorial Library.
Back in March, the Kansas Legislature approved placing the limestone, wooden-domed building at 1220 C of E Drive — which is on the National Register of Historic Places — on the market. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed the bill in April.
The building, which houses the ESU Archive, isn’t on the market yet. That won’t happen until the archive is moved to other quarters.
The library, which opened at the College of Emporia in 1902, was constructed as the result of a grant from steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The grant was the first that Carnegie made to an institution of higher learning in the U.S., and the first for a Carnegie library to be built in Kansas.
After C of E closed in the 1970s, the building served several uses before being purchased to house the ESU Archive.
Mark Runge, director of university facilities at ESU, said that about a year ago, the university made the decision to bring the archive back to the main campus. He said having materials off-campus posed problems of communication and access. The archive will be moved to William Allen White library at ESU.
“With the emphasis on the importance of historical preservation and archiving, access to those records is so much easier on campus,” Runge said. “If someone’s off-campus, there are definite parking issues and there are definite access issues, and everything else related to the Anderson building, that someone with financial backing and the ability to meet and address those issues will have to look at.”
The building was constructed to honor Col. John B. Anderson, a mentor of the young Carnegie at the Penn Central Railroad in Pittsburgh, where Anderson was a manager. Anderson died in Manhattan in 1899. Two years later, Carnegie got in touch with Anderson’s widow and offered to erect a statue in Anderson’s honor in Pittsburgh.
Anderson’s widow requested instead that Carnegie pay for the construction of a building on the College of Emporia campus, where one library containing 600 of Anderson’s books already stood in his honor. Carnegie’s grant was bestowed on Jan. 3, 1900, and his and Mrs. Anderson’s wish came true.
Though the Anderson grant was the first for a Carnegie library in Kansas, Anderson wasn’t the first Carnegie library to open in the state. The Leavenworth Public Library opened in May 1902; the Anderson building was completed in 1901 but dedicated in June 1902.
When the College of Emporia closed down in 1974, the Way International purchased the campus and began renovating it. Anderson library was re-dedicated in 1986 and placed on the national register in 1987.
“Rather than just let the building sit idle or dilapidate because of a lack of a use, it’s just smarter to go ahead and sell the building and get it occupied,” Runge said. “There’s no good that comes out of an empty building.”
Right now, Runge said, the 100-plus-year-old library is fairly sturdy.
“It’s in very solid condition,” he said. “There are some issues. There is some slight movement in the foundations and stuff, but that’s expected on the settling of a building that’s over 100 years old.
“Dealing with historical buildings and the accessibility laws will be an issue the new owners will have to address.”
Runge said there was no timeline for listing and selling the building. He said it would depend on when the archives will be relocated back to the White library, which in turn will depend on the weather.
“Moving the archives is a critical process (with) the temperatures and making sure nothing is damaged or worse yet, destroyed, on the move,” Runge said.
Remodeling has been done on the basement of the White library to house university archives; the remodeled basement will open on Jan. 18, university archivist Heather Wade said.
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Posted by bobhornet (anonymous) on January 1, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ESU would never have done this while Earl Sauder and Joe Cannon were alive. This is the most shameless thing the university has done yet. Disgusting.
Posted by rcr (anonymous) on January 1, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually they would of supported this. Joe and Earl both believed in investing for the future. For the price they paid originally for this building, ESU will multiply the returns of the investment. Their donation had more to do with keeping a Prison off the campus and investing back into the cause as anything.
The return on investment should be put back into the ESU trust so that it can continue to grow as these businessmen would have wanted.
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