Celebrate National Library Week by attending Andrew Carnegie: From Steel to Libraries program presented by historian Rick Feingold, who teaches American Business History at Bergen Community College and holds an MBA from Penn State University.

Nineteenth-century business magnate Andrew Carnegie amassed an enormous fortune in the steel industry. In the late 1800s, when steel was first used as a railroad track, he perfected the production of low-cost steel. His Carnegie Steelworks, located in Homestead, PA, employed men producing steel under primitive industrial working conditions. An 1892 strike of the workers at Homestead pitted the Pinkerton Detective Agency against the steelworkers, ending with 10 deaths.

After Carnegie sold his steel company to J.P. Morgan in 1901, he became a major philanthropist, donating money to build over 2,500 free public libraries. Many still exist today, two of which are here in Union City: the Main Library located at 43rd Street and Musto center, formerly the Branch Library, located at 15th Street.