Centene Charitable Foundation Donates $500,000 to Central Library Project

Centene Charitable Foundation has announced a $500,000 gift to the St. Louis Public Library Foundation's Central To Your World capital campaign to fund the newly expanded Teen Room in the revitalized downtown Central Library. The gift was jointly announced by Centene Charitable Foundation and the St. Louis Public Library Foundation.

With this generous gift, the Library Foundation has now raised 91% of the $20 million philanthropic goal in support of the $70 million total restoration and revitalization of Central Library, which occupies a full city block in downtown St. Louis. Alison Nichols Ferring and Thomas F. Schlafly serve as the campaign's co-chairpersons.

"We are very grateful to Centene Charitable Foundation for this incredibly generous donation in support of this key downtown project," added Rick Simoncelli, president of the St. Louis Public Library Foundation. "Their gift, along with donations from other St. Louis businesses, foundations, and individuals, has made it possible to restore one of the St. Louis region's greatest buildings, which serves as the vibrant hub for our Library's system-wide operations."

The St. Louis Public Library welcomes more than two million visitors annually. The newly renovated Central Library offers an 83 percent increase of space for public use and exhibits, including expanded Children and Teen rooms, a new 244-seat auditorium and the first free digital maker space in the region. Central Library closed for construction in June 2010 and reopened on December 9, 2012, in time for its Centennial celebration. The Central Library project has been recognized for excellence by numerous national and international organizations including;American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Library Association (ALA), Landmarks Association of St. Louis, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In 1901, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie gave a gift of $1 million to the city of St. Louis to build a great city library. Carnegie designated $500,000 for a downtown central library and the other $500,000 to build citywide branches. (In today's dollars, Carnegie's gift would be worth $24.3 million.) Since the total cost to build the original Central was to be $2 million, the citizens of St. Louis accepted the challenge and raised the remaining $1.5 million in donations. Central Library was designed by Cass Gilbert, who designed many of America's major buildings –including the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. – and opened on January 6, 1912.

St. Louis Public Library

City of St. Louis