April 29, 1914: Braddock’s streets were packed when Andrew Carnegie arrived to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the library he’d built for the town. Flags flew from almost every building, according to newspaper reports, and hundreds of pictures of the steel king were on display. Carnegie led the crowd in the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” and remained on his feet during the entire two-hour ceremony.
The Braddock Carnegie Library was the first Carnegie library built in the United States. It remains today as an architectural jewel in the old steel town. You can see what the library looks like today, and take a panoramic tour at the PG’s Pittsburgh Revolution page.
We found two pictures from this event in our files. In this photograph, Carnegie gets lost in the crowd, though a newspaper artist was kind enough to paint an arrow on the image to point him out on the stage.
(Photo credit: unknown)
