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50 Years Since Fire Destroyed Old Galesburg Public Library

It's been 50 years since the original Galesburg Public Library in the Carnegie Building was destroyed by a fire. The former library was deemed a total loss, and the current library is on property where the old library was housed.


Patty Mosier, an archivist with the Galesburg Public Library, tells WGIL the fire broke out in the upper level of the former library. "It was a Friday night, at 7:32pm, and a passer-by noticed a plume of smoke coming out from the roof line of the library," Mosier said.  "(The passerby) went in, and reported it, and called the Fire Department, and all the librarians got the people out.  When they got there, (firefighters) discovered it was in the attic.  It was an exhaust fan in the southwest corner of the library that they had problems with before."


Mosier says there were only six people manning the firehouse on Simmons Street at the time of the fire, and one man had to stay back to work the radios. Three other fire trucks were contacted to help with the fire, including Abingdon and the Brooks Street Station.


The Carnegie Library was replaced with a new library on November 3rd, 1961, and after a couple of additions, it's the library Galesburg residents know today.

05 08 08 by Newsroom
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