DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm basing this on what the official Texas Historical Commission marker has to say, so let me tell it straight from that source. Five women's clubs in Tyler, Texas, had a vision — and friend, when five determined women's clubs set their minds to something, you might as well step aside and let history happen. We're talking about the First Literary Club, the Bachelor Maids, the Quid Nunc, the Sherwood Club, and the Athenian Club.
Together they called themselves the Federated Women's Clubs of Tyler, and for several years they worked to bring a real library to this growing east Texas town. Not a borrowed shelf in a back room somewhere. A library.
The kind a town could be proud of. In 1902, the Tyler Free Library Board took the next bold step and reached out to one Andrew Carnegie — the philanthropist who'd made it his business to put libraries in American cities like seeds in good soil. Carnegie looked at Tyler and said yes.
Fifteen thousand dollars, he offered, for a library building. But Carnegie, he was never one to hand over money without terms. The city had to donate the land, provide the furnishings, and commit to maintaining the library at no less than fifteen hundred dollars a year.
That was the deal, take it or leave it. Tyler took it. A lot was secured at the northwest corner of South College and West Elm, and the community got to fundraising — books, furnishings, landscaping, even telephone services came together through the efforts of the people of Tyler.
For the design, the city turned to the Chicago architectural firm of Patton and Miller, who gave the building an Italian Renaissance style that must have looked like something conjured from another world rising out of east Texas. R.H. Downing of Tyler served as the architectural supervisor, and D.
Mahoney of Waxahachie put the thing together as builder. What they built was a two-story masonry structure of standard size buff brick and limestone, topped by a low-profile overhanging red clay tile hipped roof. Every window, every door — framed by keystones and cut stone embellishments.
And that main entry? Topped by a broken pediment and a stained glass transom that caught the light like it was trying to tell you something important before you'd even walked in. Inside, the first floor held children's and adults' reading rooms, a check-out desk, bookshelves, and an office.
But climb those stairs, and you found something unexpected — a full auditorium on the second floor, complete with a stage and two small dressing rooms. For many years, that auditorium was the only public auditorium in Tyler. Think about that.
Every performance, every civic gathering, every voice that needed to be heard in that town came through a building that five women's clubs dreamed into existence. Then in 1936, the library grew — a new addition that doubled the size of the original, and on its walls, murals by Texas artist Douthitt Wilson depicting life in east Texas. The story of the land, right there on the walls, inside a building that was itself a story.
That is how Tyler got its Carnegie Library — through five clubs, one philanthropist, a Chicago firm, and a whole community that believed a town worth living in was a town worth reading in.
What the marker says
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.