The Belleville public library isn’t just a great community location…it’s also one of the original Carnegie libraries!

The Belleville library had its beginning in 1836, thanks to the “Latin Farmers” that settled in the area. The Carnegie libraries were a group of libraries (over 1,600 in the United States alone!) built around the world with donations from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s. Those two things joined together to form the public library that Belleville still knows and loves today.

The main Belleville library branch, designed by Otto Rubach, was built in the Beaux Arts style, and completed in 1916. It has been renovated in the last year, but still retains its original style and charm.