Libraries across the U.S. built by businessman Andrew Carnegie over a century ago are each receiving $10,000 grants to celebrate the role they play in their communities.

1,681 libraries, including 28 in Missouri, were built with funds provided by the Scottish-born steel magnate between 1886 and 1917. Six of those libraries are in our area, including the two in Randolph County that are part of the Little Dixie Regional Library system. Director Rachael Grime says the grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York will help fund programming over the next year.

Grime says after seeing the success of other communities in Missouri and surrounding states, residents in Randolph County pooled together in the early 1900s to petition Carnegie for a library to call their own.

Moberly’s Carnegie Library opened in 1904, while Huntsville would see theirs begin operation a decade later. The Huntsville library joined the Little Dixie Regional Library system in 1958, followed by Moberly in 1969.

Carnegie Libraries in the area also receiving $10,000 include Brookfield, Fayette, Marceline, and Sedalia.