This Friday’s face is a bronze plaque of Andrew Carnegie. It can be found in the first floor of the main building of the Central Arkansas Library System.

A Scottish immigrant to the US, he amassed a great wealth as an industrialist, chiefly in the steel industry.  He started funding libraries in the 1880s.  He set up the Carnegie Corporation and used that as one of his avenues for philanthropy, especially for the establishment of libraries.

There were several Carnegie Libraries built in Arkansas.  Little Rock’s first public library, which opened in 1910, was one of these libraries.  It was located at the southwest corner of 7th and Louisiana.

The original building was razed in 1964, but the four columns which were on the front facade now stand outside the current Main Library building at 100 Rock Street.