Franklin Carnegie Library

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Franklin Carnegie Library, up in Robertson County. Now, before 1913, the city of Franklin already had itself a library. A thousand volumes, tucked right inside City Hall.

Not a bad start. But the mayor of Franklin, a man named R. M.

Cole, born in 1848, must have looked at that situation and decided the books deserved a proper home. So in February of 1913, Cole walked up to the task and applied to the Carnegie Corporation of New York for the funds to build one. The Carnegie Corporation looked over the plans, liked what they saw, and granted seventy-five hundred dollars to the project.

Now, seventy-five hundred dollars and a vision go a long way when you've got the right architect. A man named Patterson drew up something worth looking at: a brick building, classical details, and a pressed-metal roof designed to resemble tiles. The kind of place that says, yes, this town takes its reading seriously.

The building was completed in 1914. And here's where the story takes one of those little turns. It served as a library only through 1918.

Four years. Four years as the thing it was built to be. But that building didn't just sit there gathering dust.

School classes came through its doors. Public activities filled the space. That went on clear through 1984.

R. M. Cole passed in 1931, long after he'd set the whole thing in motion with a letter to New York.

The library he championed outlasted its original purpose by decades, still useful, still standing. Sometimes the building is bigger than the moment that built it.

What the marker says

The city of Franklin housed a library of 1,000 volumes in its City Hall before 1913. In February that year, Franklin Mayor R. M. Cole (1848-1931) applied to the Carnegie Corporation of New York for funds to build a new library. The Carnegie Corporation approved plans and granted $7,500 to the project. This brick building with classical details and a pressed-metal roof resembling tiles was designed by an architect named Patterson and completed in 1914, though it served as a library only through 1918. School classes and public activities were held here through 1984. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986