FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY - Tomah, WI, USA - Carnegie Library Buildings on Waymarking.com

Tomah received its Carnegie grant in 1915 but the building was not completed until 1917. At the present time it is called the Tomah Public Library.

The Tomah Public Library is on US National Register of Historical Places added May 28 1976 #76000068. The Architectural Style of this building is Prairie School.

"In 1911 Ernest Buckley, who was a successful geologist, left the city [of Tomah] $12,000 to be used for a park or library. The city leaders set aside $7,000 for a library and requested a grant of $10,000 from the Carnegie Foundation. In 1915 they received the grant and secured the services of Claude and Starck. If Louis Sullivan was known for designing banks, the Madison, Wisconsin firm of Claude & Starck developed a reputation for libraries, building more than half a dozen in the upper Midwest and Washington state. Unlike the typical Sullivanesque ornament, which is made of glazed terra cotta, the Tomah library’s frieze is made of staff, a mixture of gypsum and fiber. When the library outgrew the original building, a sympathetic addition by Potter, Lawson and Pawlowsky of Madison was constructed in 1980. “Frank Lloyd Wright & the Prairie School in Wisconsin”, Visser 1992, Pages 207-209."

Address of Library Building: 716 Superior Ave Tomah, WI USA 54660 Current Use of Building: Library Year Built (optional): 1915 Website about building: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/27/2016 mrjcanger visited it