Our History
The Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County is located in the 1902 Carnegie Library building in downtown Crawfordsville, Indiana. The museum is an interdisciplinary museum of history, art, and science. The Carnegie Museum strives to be a community-centered institution that serves as a gathering space for community dialogue, creativity, and celebration through relevant exhibits, interactive programming, dynamic community engagement, and preservation and interpretation of collections.
The museum interprets the history of Montgomery County, Indiana. Exploring and understanding the history of the community allows us to find ourselves in a diverse world. These stories of the people, places, and organizations of the county help us to understand our history through the stories of families, communities, and country.
The Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County is a department of the Crawfordsville District Public Library.
The Building
In 1897, the Current Events Club, like many women’s clubs during this era, helped organize the city’s public library. Andrew Carnegie donated $25,000 in 1901 for library building construction; the city provided land and annual funding. Local architect W. F. Sharpe designed this Renaissance Revival building.
This was the first Carnegie Library opened in Indiana, dedicated July 29, 1902 with 4,500 volumes. It was one of 1,679 libraries built in the U.S. with funds from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Indiana built more Carnegie libraries than any other state. The library moved to its current location across the street in 2005, and after 18 months of renovation, the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County opened in June 2007.
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