was not the lowest bidder. After a private ceremony to mark the start of construction was held in August 1902, a ceremonial cornerstone was laid on November 10, 1902. The cornerstone contained a box of artifacts from the library and the city. The architects awarded the contract for the library's stacks to Snead & Company; for drainage and plumbing to M. J. O'Brien; for interior finishes to the John Peirce Company; and for electric equipment to the Lord Electric Company. Work progressed gradually on the library: the basement was completed by 1903, and the first floor by 1904. However, exterior work was delayed due to the high cost of securing large amounts of marble, as well as frequent labor strikes. When the Norcross Brothers' contract expired in August 1904, the exterior was only halfway completed. During mid-1905, giant columns were put into place and work on the roof was begun; the roof was finished by December 1906. The remaining contracts, totaling $1.2 million, concerned the installation of furnishings in the interior. The interior and exterior were largely constructed simultaneously. The building's exterior was mostly done by the end of 1907. The pace of construction was generally sluggish; in 1906, an official for the New York Public Library stated that some of the exterior and most of the interior was not finished. Contractors started painting the main reading room and catalog room in 1908, and began installing furniture the following year. Starting in 1910, around worth of shelves were installed to hold the collections that were designated for being housed there, with substantial room left for future acquisitions. It took one year to transfer and install the books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries. Late in the construction process, a proposal to install a municipal light plant in the basement of the Main Branch was rejected. By late 1910, the library was nearly completed, and officials forecast an opening date of May 1911. Carrère died before the building was opened, and in March 1911, two thousand people viewed his coffin in the library's rotunda. Opening On May 23, 1911, officials held a ceremony to open the main branch of the New York Public Library. U.S. president William Howard Taft presided over the ceremony, whose 15,000 guests included governor John Alden Dix and mayor William Jay Gaynor. The public was invited the following day, May 24, and tens of thousands went to