City of Browns Valley, MN

The Browns Valley Carnegie Library was built in 1915 with $5500 donated from the Carnegie Foundation. Besides being a library to an ever-growing community, the building had many other purposes. It housed the overflow of patients during the Flu Epidemic of 1918, it was a meeting place for many clubs and organizations and kindergarten and Sunday School classes were held there. The library was active until 1997 when a new, handicapped accessible building was built.

The Carnegie Library building currently houses a museum, which is overseen by the Browns Valley Historical Society. There are several displays of Browns Valley school memorabilia, promotional items from old city businesses, many photos and family histories. There is an area available to do research from the old books and newspaper clippings. The Carnegie Library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Carnegie Library is not currently open to the public; however, the building’s exterior will be undergoing a restoration project this summer, funded by the Minnesota Historical Society and your donations.

We are in the process of setting up online donations for the Carnegie Library Preservation Project, which will appear on this page as a "Donate" button, so check back often. In the meantime, donations may be sent to: