I checked my list of Carnegie Libraries in Oregon: AHA, there’s one in McMinnville where we’ve stopped to see the Spruce Goose (officially the Evergreen) Aviation & Space Museum!
Carnegie Libraries were built near the center of town (about 100 years ago) so we started driving through the old section of McMinnville. Found the library pretty quickly but was initially disappointed; it didn’t look like a Carnegie. My list is dated 1996 so I thought it must have been razed and replaced by a new library. Then I glanced around the back. The original facade was there (in fact it seems that the back of the present library was the front of the old library.)
Beautiful brick detail:
This is the back door which is not presently in use. Appears that this may have been the front door when the library was built. The stairs inside are typical of a Carnegie Library entry.
Transom over the door from the outside:
And more easily read (albeit in reverse!) from the top of the stairs inside the library:
When the library was renovated about five years ago they found the original fireplace behind a wall!
Original stained transom windows in the Reading Room:
This transom over the “new” library entrance appears to be moved from somewhere in the original library.
This brings my total to 61 Carnegie Libraries that I have visited and photographed. 1,689 were built, many have been razed so I still have many to find!
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