When Andrew Carnegie sold his steel empire in 1901 for the equivalent of $6.2 billion, he wrote, “No idol is more debasing than the worship of money.” During his remaining 18 years, he became a generous philanthropist. He gave away over 75% of his wealth. Carnegie strongly believed books, knowledge and hard work were the keys to success. This outlook motivated him to provide grants to build over 2,500 libraries. Almost 1,700 of them were constructed in small U.S. towns. This library in Lewistown, Montana, was built in 1905.
