Dr. Eugene Clark Library

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some buildings just stand there. They hold books, they keep the rain off the shelves, and that's enough.

But the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Caldwell County, has a little more story behind it than most. So pull up a chair by the fire and let's get into it.

Dr. Eugene Clark was a man of considerable learning. Born in New Orleans, he went on to graduate from Tulane Medical School, and then, not content with that, he crossed the ocean to study in Vienna, Austria.

He came back a specialist, an eye, ear, nose, and throat man, and he built a reputation as a prominent physician in both Lockhart and San Antonio. A well-traveled man, a well-educated man. You'd expect a long and distinguished career ahead of him.

And here's where the story takes its turn. Dr. Clark died in New York City in 1897, still a young man.

But here's the thing about a man who plans well. The funds he left behind, his bequest, those were put to work. With that money, a library was financed, built in 1899, and dedicated on July 6, 1900, in Lockhart.

Dr. Clark never saw it. But it rose in his name all the same.

The man they hired to design and build it was T. S. Hodges, and Hodges delivered something remarkable.

The building is an outstanding example of French Renaissance style, and when it was erected, it stood near the opera house, right in the cultural center of Lockhart. Now think about that for a second. A New Orleans native, educated at Tulane, refined in Vienna, leaves behind the means to build a French Renaissance library in the heart of Central Texas.

Some legacies have a certain elegance to them. That one surely does.

What the marker says

Built in 1899 and dedicated on July 6, 1900, this library was financed with funds bequeathed by Dr. Clark, who was a prominent physician of Lockhart and San Antonio. A native of New Orleans, he was a graduate of Tulane Medical School and studied in Vienna, Austria. He was an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist. He died, while still a young man, in New York City in 1897. The building, an outstanding example of French Renaissance style, was designed and built by T. S. Hodges. When erected, it stood near the opera house, in the cultural center of Lockhart. (1968)