Tyler Carnegie Library - Tyler, TX, USA
N 32° 20.990 W 095° 18.103
15S E 283394 N 3581541
The former Tyler Carnegie Library at 125 S College St, Tyler, TX, is now home to the Smith County Historical Society, who have been here since the mid-1980s. Phone is 903-592-5993.
Waymark Code: WMX83Q
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/10/2017
Views: 4
This building is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. A 2010 Texas Historical Marker provides some history, located on the south side of the building:
Five Tyler women’s clubs, the First Literary Club, Bachelor Maids, Quid Nunc, Sherwood Club and Athenian Club, collectively known as the Federated Women's Clubs of Tyler, worked for several years to form a series of libraries for this growing East Texas town.
In 1902, the Tyler Free Library Board requested funding for a library building from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie agreed to provide $15,000 to the City of Tyler for a library, but stipulated that the city donate the building site and furnishings and maintain the library at a cost of no less than $1500 per year. A lot was purchased at the northwest corner of South College and West Elm, and fundraising efforts throughout the community provided the books, furnishings, landscaping and telephone services for the new library.
The Chicago architectural firm of Patton & Miller designed the Italian Renaissance-style building, with R.H. Downing of Tyler as architectural supervisor and D. Mahoney of Waxahachie as builder. The original library housed children's and adults' reading rooms, a check-out desk, book shelves and an office on the first floor, while the second floor included an auditorium with stage and two small dressing rooms. For many years this was the only public auditorium in Tyler. A 1936 addition, which doubled the size of the original building, features murals depicting life in East Texas by Texas artist Douthitt Wilson. The building is a two-story masonry structure, built with standard size buff brick and limestone. An overhanging red clay tile hipped roof tops the building in a low profile, and keystones and cut stone embellishments frame all windows and doors. The main entry is topped by a broken pediment and stained glass transom.
The National Register's Nomination Form (see Website) provides 1904 as the year of construction, and elaborates a bit upon what is on the Texas Historical Marker. The Smith County Historical Society operates a museum here, and it can be visited Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM, and on Saturday from 12 PM to 4 PM.