Maine’s two most famous philanthropists today, it’s safe to say, are Stephen and Tabitha King of Bangor. Libraries have been one of the favorite targets of their wealth.

A century ago a man equally as famous in his day was the state’s No. 1 library philanthropist. He was steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who paid the equivalent of more than $800 million in today’s currency to build 1,689 libraries throughout the nation. Eighteen of them were constructed in Maine over a 15-year period beginning in 1897.

One was the Old Town Public Library. The little beaux-arts style building was completed in 1904 on land donated by the Gray family, founders of Old Town Canoe Co. Nearly a century later the Kings came along and helped more than triple the size of the building. Today the library symbolizes the power of the book in the 20th century, along with the notion that self-directed learning by the masses still goes hand-in-hand with democratic ideals.

The year 1903 was the apex of Carnegie’s giving for libraries. In Maine he paid for five to be built in Auburn, Houlton, Old Town, Pittsfield and Rumford. Money already had been provided for libraries in Gardiner, Lewiston, Rockland and Waterville. Yet to come were Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Freeport, Guilford, Madison, Milo, Oakland, Presque Isle and Vinalhaven, according to the list provided by Theodore Jones in his book “Carnegie Libraries Across America.”

The editors of the Bangor Daily News were impressed. “Andrew Carnegie Used Us Well,” declared a headline on Feb. 8, 1904, over a story on the annual report of the Maine Library Commission.

Many towns did not have libraries, or they had libraries such as Old Town’s, which consisted of about 500 volumes tucked into the aldermen’s room in City Hall, open for part of just two days a week. When the new Carnegie library opened it had space for 6,000 volumes, and today there are 50,000 between the old building and the new Tabitha Spruce King Wing, along with a host of other resources found in modern libraries.

Some communities actually turned down Carnegie funds. In some cases, such as those of Camden and Brunswick, local wealthy people stepped forward to provide the money, according to George S. Bobinski in his book “Carnegie Libraries.” In other cases, however, such as those of Harpswell and Wiscasset, towns said they couldn’t afford the 10 percent local maintenance cost that was part of the agreement. And Norway officials flatly rejected the idea of maintaining a new library.

Despite the attitude of people in some Maine towns, the Pine Tree State on its own already was one of the best-read in the nation, and things were getting better with or without Carnegie money. In 1923, only five other states had more libraries than Maine communities of 1,000 population or more unaided by Carnegie funds, according to Bobinski.

The motives of philanthropists always are interesting to contemplate, and Carnegie’s philosophy frequently has been summed up in his famous dictum: “The man who dies … rich, dies disgraced.”

His fascination with libraries has been traced to experiences in his youth in Scotland. Carnegie’s father, a weaver, urged his fellow workers to donate toward the purchase of books, and one of them would be appointed to read aloud while the others worked. Carnegie gave his first library to his hometown of Dunfermline in 1881, and he frequently spoke with pride of his father’s efforts.

In the United States, where the family moved when he was 13, Carnegie wrote a letter to the editor of a Pittsburgh newspaper asking that all working boys like himself be allowed to use a library in nearby Allegheny City that had been created for “mechanics and working men in the trades.” His wish was granted. Later he wrote that “it was when reveling in the treasures which he [the library’s philanthropist, Col. Allen] opened to us that I resolved, if ever wealth came to me, that other poor boys might receive opportunities similar to those for which we were indebted to that noble man.”

Carnegie was inspired by philanthropists who came before him and he inspired many others after him. They built countless libraries in Maine and across the nation, and continue upgrading and expanding some of those libraries today. Many other libraries, however, simply are maintained grudgingly by local taxpayers and their elected officials.

When we read newspaper stories of vandalism by young people in one library or another, we should remember also using the same library are occasional “poor working boys” such as Andrew Carnegie and Stephen King whose accomplishments only will be evident decades from now.

Wayne E. Reilly has edited two books of Civil War-era diaries and letters including “The Diaries of Sarah Jane and Emma Ann Foster: A Year in Maine During the Civil War.” He can be reached at wreilly@bangordailynews.net