Tyler Carnegie Library

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.

Tyler Carnegie Library is a historical marker in Tyler, Smith County, dedicated in 2010. It is one of 90 historical markers documented in Smith County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 272 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.3497, -95.3020 near Tyler. The nearest cataloged historic site is Carnegie Public Library (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Jenkins--Harvey Super Service Station and Garage, Christ Episcopal Church, and People's National Bank Building.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507016531. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.