Martinsville Public Library - Martinsville, Indiana - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

Martinsville's Carnegie Library is constructed of rusticated Bedford limestone. The T-plan building features an elevated, projecting gabled entrance pavilion supported by four Ionic columns. A rotunda emerges from the cross-gabled roof. Pilasters mark the outside corners. The windows consist of a single leaded glass fixed sash over two-over-two pane fixed sash. The roof is asphalt. Both the original library and the 1990 addition is one story over a full basement. The classical-influenced 1990 addition is faced with smooth Bedford limestone and is sympathetic to the original in material, scale and design.

Funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who donated $12,500, the Martinsville Public Library was designed by the Evansville architectural firm Harris and Shopbell. The contractor was Ora Storm. Carnegie's gift covered the expenses of a brick building, but city officials believed that a limestone building would be more suitable for the Artesian City, which annually received "thousands of visitors from the best and most intelligent families of the United States." City officials sold bonds to generate the additional $2,500 necessary for the limestone building after Carnegie refused to contribute the difference. The institution was dedicated on September 1, 1908. The addition was completed in 1990." - Historic District Nomination Form