Canastota Salutes Its Centenarian
by Dana Johnston

August 11, 2003 was a night of celebration in a small town with big ideas.

One hundred and one years ago, Andrew Carnegie's Foundation saw fit to provide this little village in the middle of New York state with $10,000 to build an edifice suitable to house its ambitious library. Canastota met the Foundation's requirement that it raise an additional $1,000 per year for the library. Construction was undertaken and quickly completed, and the happy result was a banana colored brick structure, designed by Syracuse architect Archimides Russell. The library building was nothing if not solid. Furthermore, it was at the same time a tribute to classic Greek and Roman architecture, -- geometric and symmetrical,complete with protruding brick columns and twin garlands adorning each side of the building's front entrance-- and simultaneously a harbinger of the Art Deco movement which would arrive "officially" two decades later. The building connected the past with the future, which, if one thinks about it, is what libraries are all about. (to read more click here)