Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie’s decision to support library construction developed out of his own experience. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland on November 25, 1835, he spent his first 12 years in the coastal town of Dunfermline, Scotland.

There he listened to men read aloud and discuss books borrowed from the Tradesmen’s Subscription Library that his father, a weaver, had helped create. Carnegie began his formal education at age eight, but had to stop after only three years. The rapid industrialization of the textile trade forced small businessmen like Carnegie’s father out of business.

As a result, the family sold their belongings and in 1848 emigrate to U.S. aboard the S.V. Wiscasset to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (another source states Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh). Where Andrew began to work as a bobbin boy in a textile mill, earning $1.20 per week. He later takes a job in a factory tending the steam engine and boiler, for $2.00 per week. He impresses his supervisor with his penmanship and is offered the chance to work as a clerk for the factory.

Over the next half-century Carnegie accumulated the fortune that would enable him to fulfill that pledge. During his years as a messenger which began in 1849 earning $2.50 per week. Carnegie had taught himself the art of telegraphy and soon after, he was promoted to the position of telegraph operator and begins making $20 per month.

In 1853 becomes the personal telegrapher and assistant to Thomas Scott, the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's western division. He is paid $35 per month. This skill helped him make contacts with the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he went to work at age 18. During his 12-year railroad association he rose quickly, ultimately becoming superintendent of the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh division in 1859. He simultaneously invested in a number of other businesses, including railroad locomotives (another source states in 1856 - the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company), oil, and iron and steel. In 1865, Carnegie left the railroad to manage the Keystone Bridge Company, which was successfully replacing wooden railroad bridges with iron ones. 1867 he establishes the Keystone Telegraph Company with several associates from the railroad. By the 1870s he was concentrating on steel manufacturing. In 1875 Carnegie opens his first steel plant, the Edgar Thomson Works, in Braddock, Pennsylvania and in 1883 he buys the Homestead Works, a rival mill. n 1899 by organizing several of his steel companies he created Carnegie Steel Company in 1899 and its annual profit was $40 million In 1901 he sold that business to J.P. Morgan for $480/500 million, a move which allows Morgan to create US Steel, and makes Carnegie the richest man in the world. Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

Carnegie then retired and devoted the remainder of his life to philanthropy.