Spencer Iowa's Carnegie Window

The Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa has become famous because of a cat named Dewey. But long before there was a cat named Dewey, there was a Carnegie library building in Spencer. Like Dewey, the Carnegie is no longer around to please or inspire. It met the wrecking ball in 1970, but a special architectural detail of the building still survives. That architectural detail is the leaded glass window with the word "Carnegie" which was above the entry to the library. The window is now in the possession of Paul Brenner, a resident of Spencer, IA. Paul is interested in finding our if this is a unique artifact or if something similar was used in another Carnegie library building. The architectural firm that designed the Spencer Carnegie building was Patton & Miller of Chicago, a firm that designed many libraries in the Mid-west. Placing his name on the building was not a condition for receiving a grant for a library building from Andrew Carnegie.