Tekamah Public Library covers

Research:

From the Burt County Plaindealer newspaper:

Tekamah's Carnegie Public Library was named recently to the National Register of Historic Places.

The library, built in 1916, officially was added March 15, 2005…

The first round of construction bids were all rejected because they were considered too expensive. After bids were let again, a local contractor, L.G. Wood was awarded the contract for $7,500, paid by the Carnegie money. The contract called for a 24x60-foot building, 24 feet high, to be constructed from the finest pressed brick and cut stone.

The library was formally opened to the public October 25, 1916. The fruits of a six-month public book drive allowed more than 1,200 volumes to be placed on the library's new shelves by November.

By Tekamah's centennial, the library was loaning books at the rate of 1,000 per month. It had 1,000 active borrowers in the city and served another 200 rural patrons. Library shelves held more than 9,000 volumes at the time. [1]