Trumbull County Carnegie Law Library, Warren, Ohio
Posted by: boatchick
N 41° 14.255 W 080° 49.100
17T E 515223 N 4565147
The Warren Carnegie Library has been reborn as the Trumbull County Carnegie Law Library.
Waymark Code: WM4W6J
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 10/04/2008
Views: 16
Library service in Warren began as early as 1814, and continued in various forms, off and on, until the late 1880s, when local citizens expressed the need for a permanent library. The Warren Library incorporated in 1890, and operated as a subscription library for eight years, after which it became a free pubclic library supported by tax money and available to anyone within the Warren School District. A Carnegie grant totalling $28,383 was received in 1903. Local judge Milton Sutliff had willed land on the north side of the courthouse square to the city; this lot would be used to build the library. Like many other Carnegie libraries (including the beautiful
Cleveland West branch), the Warren building was designed by New York architect Edward Tilton, renowned for his Ellis Island Immigration Station design. The building was constructed of red brick with limestone trim and featured a stained glass skylight. The
Warren Library was opened to the public in February of 1903.
Local celebrity James Ward Packard, of automobile fame, contributed $55,000 for a 1926 building expansion. As the collection continued to grow, branch libraries were built and bookmobiles operated. By the 1970s, a new building was needed, and the old Carnegie buidling was sold to Trumbull County. The county has used the building for a variety of purposes, including Board of Education headquarters, juvenile detention center, and appeals court. In 1994, renovation and restoration of the old building began, and, in 1997, it was rededicated as the Trumbull County Carnegie Law Library.