Talk of a ‘Carnegie Town Hall and Library’ in 1903
The Celt's historical columnist, Jonathan Smyth, recalls the story of Cavan MP Thomas Lough and how he set about getting a Carnegie-style hall and library for Cavan Town in 1903...
Thomas Lough, described Carnegie as a liberal-minded ‘Scotchman’ who was only trying his hardest to spend a massive fortune of multiple millions in grants for projects that appealed to him.
Excitement swept through the town of Cavan in 1903, when Thomas Lough MP, told the Urban District Council about the possibility of a Carnegie Grant to build a Town Hall and Library. A public meeting took place to discuss the advisability of furthering the ‘contemplated’ plan, the grant and costs involved.
The public came to hear Lough’s talk, as did a full complement of urban councillors. The councillors included, James Galligan JP and Chairman; V.P. Kennedy; B. Brady, F. O’Reilly; M. Smith; T. Pollock; T. Farrelly; A. Gray; W.A. Mervyn; P. Glancy; P. Galligan; D. Reilly; B. Murphy; M. McGuinness and T. McGuinness, Town Clerk. When the Chairman introduced the meeting, he told the people of how Lough was a great man of ideas. ‘It is not the first good move he has made for the county,’ Galligan asserted with pride. The importance of having a proper civic space to gather and a public library were worth striving for and were to the benefit of all in the community, explained Lough. If the councillors could agree, said Lough, then some steps could be taken to put a plan in to action and go for the grant. He argued that a Town Hall was the perfect place to hold council meetings and where the community could themselves, regardless of religious affiliation hold their own meetings.
The Lough brothers, Thomas and Arthur, as Killeshandra people will know, were no strangers to Cavan. Arthur Lough, alongside Fr. Tom Finlay and Sir Horace Plunkett were the driving force behind the rural co-operative movement which they helped to establish around Ireland. In the late 1890s, Thomas and his brother Arthur setup the Drumully Farm and Garden Society; later to be known as Killeshandra Co-op; which operates today under Lakeland Dairies at a national and international level, processing ‘over 1.8 Billion litres of farm-produced milk into a wide range of dairy food service products, consumer foods and dairy food ingredients’.
Thomas Lough, described Carnegie as a liberal-minded ‘Scotchman’ who was only trying his hardest to spend a massive fortune of multiple millions in grants for projects that appealed to him. The ‘generous’ Scotsman who had earned his fortune in America now desired to spend it all before he died. Everybody at the meeting agreed, that in a time of such poverty, a library would bring joy to the multitude who might pass through its doors. The only question which remained to be answered, could the Urban Council willingly accept Carnegie’s free gift?
Some councillors thought that it was utterly useless to look for money until they had an architect’s plans to show Carnegie. Someone in the room was suddenly roused into action when they remembered the plans of the late William Hague, drawn-up in 1888 for a Town Hall that they never built. The plans were lying about in a corner gathering dust and now was the time to finally make use of them. More mundane issues received a mention too, for example, the running costs of the Townhall and Library, and who would foot the bill, and did they expect the ratepayer to pick-up the tab. Lough in calming the people, told them that the Urban Council ought to make it ‘self-supporting’ and anyone connected to its use, could pay towards the ‘running costs’. Sure there was so much a Town Hall could be used for, and elaborating, he pointed out ‘that if it was suitably constructed’ with a stage for plays and built on a ‘free site’, he added, hinting at the Urban Council, and then the Carnegie Grant might be another saving.
Library
As for the library side of things, - Lough described it as an essential part of any plan. The Library should have a newsroom he thought, that is, a place where the daily and weekly newspapers could be mulled over and digested by the public. He thought that if the room had at least eight newspapers, that the public might receive a balanced and fair understanding of current affairs in the world. Then they had the job of what books to stock. Lough gingerly reminded the audience that setting up a library from Carnegie’s point of view was easy enough, and that the ‘thorny’ subject of religion should not interfere with the books they picked. However, Lough’s pet-project, was the Library newsroom, telling Mr Pollock, Urban Councillor, that by consulting more newspapers he might ‘get to know about timber and meal coming into the country.’
Somebody asked: how many should the hall hold? Lough estimated a capacity of 600 to 800. It needed a billiards room too suggested some of the gentlemen present. A caretakers office and well-lit rooms were other things discussed. They then formed a small Town Hall and Library Committee, consisting of Thomas Lough, MP; James Galligan; William Finlay; B. Brady; T. Pollock; T. Farrelly; A. McCarren and V.P. Kennedy. After an enthusiastic start, the Carnegie plan never came about. Well,in the end, the long and the short of it was that Carnegie did not grant Cavan the money.
Afterwards, Town Hall was built in Cavan in 1909. However, the County’s first Public Library was not to open until 1930. The Library Service began a long connection to the county and its people which is now in its ninetieth year. In the beginning, the Library had its headquarters in a room in the Court House and a ‘lending library’ was opened in the Temperance Hall, beside St. Augustine’s Hall on Farnham Street.
Albert Einstein who knew so much about the universe, was once heard to say: ‘The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.’