Carnegie Library Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Runnels County, there stands a building made of native limestone, and if those walls could talk, they'd have quite a story to tell. It goes back to 1909, when construction began on what would become the Carnegie Library Building, and it wouldn't be finished until 1911.

Two years of work, and when it was done, something special had taken shape in this corner of Texas. Now, how does a building like this come to be? Well, it starts with money from a long way off.

Andrew Carnegie, the New York industrialist and philanthropist, put up the funds. Carnegie. A man whose name was already attached to libraries across the country, and now it would be attached to this one too.

But you can't build a library on funds alone. You need land. And that's where a local banker named Jo Wilmeth came in, donating the ground the whole thing would stand on.

Then there's the matter of who drew up the plans and kept the project on track. That fell to the Reverend J. D.

Leslie, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. A preacher serving as supervising architect. Now that right there is a detail worth sitting with for a moment.

The building that rose up wasn't just a place to check out books. That auditorium, those club rooms, they became something the whole community leaned on. Civic events, cultural gatherings, school social activities, and when congregations needed a roof over their heads, temporary worship services of several local churches found shelter inside those limestone walls.

One building carrying all of that. A banker's land, a philanthropist's dollars, a preacher's eye for architecture, and a whole town's worth of living done inside. Native limestone doesn't lie.

That building's still standing, and now you know what it's made of.

What the marker says

This native limestone library was built in 1909-11 with funds from New York industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Local banker Jo Wilmeth donated the land and the Rev. J. D. Leslie, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, served as the supervising architect. The building's auditorium and club rooms were used for a variety of civic and cultural events, school social activities and temporary worship services of several local churches. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962