ETOWAH, Tenn. – The Etowah Carnegie Public Library will mark its 100th year in September with a little face-lift to dress up the historic structure in McMinn County’s second-largest town.
“It is a great old building, and we’re trying to preserve it,” said Marilyn Joiner, president of Friends of the Etowah Carnegie Library. “We’re working with the Southeast Tennessee [Development District] to keep it as good as it can be and still functional.”
A $25,000 historic preservation grant was awarded to the city of Etowah earlier this year to pay for restoration of the library’s aging wooden windows. The money covers 60 percent of the project teamed with a 40-percent local match.
The window project will protect the library’s masonry and plaster walls from the elements and better insulate the building from heat and cold temperatures, according to library director Lara Crockett.
As the second-oldest public building in Etowah, the library building on Ohio Avenue played a number of roles over the last 10 decades, and it’s worthy of an update, Crockett said.
Officials said 20,000 to 22,000 people visit the library in Etowah each year to find books, computers and video discs, and to use the in-house Wi-Fi and other forms of media. Joiner said the friends of the library group formed in 2010 to address accessibility issues related to the building’s 22-step climb.
Crockett said the steps, while not very accessible, are symbolic, as are the two original lamp posts out front.
“They symbolize bettering yourself; you’re rising above your current station in life and you’re wanting to learn more,” Crockett said. “The lamp posts symbolize enlightenment.”
According to library historical accounts, the building was erected in 1915 with funding from an $8,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation on property donated by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. There are about 2,500 Carnegie libraries in the world with about 1,700 in the U.S.
The two-story brick structure is 100 feet by 40 feet with the remainder of the property originally used as a park, a jail and later a fire station. After World War I, the park was used for the display of captured German artillery, and during the late 1960s the park south of the library was used for the construction of a combination police and fire department building that still stands today.
The Carnegie building has always been used primarily as a library, except for the years from 1918 to 1922 when it was occupied by the first Etowah High School. It remained a high school until the new school was built on Washington Avenue. After the school relocated, city offices were established on the ground floor. The library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Joiner noted that only four of the 17 Carnegie libraries built in Tennessee are still in operation.
Chris Ingram, Etowah’s director of community development, said bids for the window work should be let soon and he hopes the work is finished before cold weather sets in.
Ingram said the library has been identified as a vital part of the Tennessee Downtown Committee’s upcoming revitalization efforts.
Joiner said plans are in the works for a 100th birthday party for the Carnegie Library later in the summer. Those plans will be announced in the coming weeks, she said.
Correction:
In a story published in the Sunday, July 12, 2015, edition on restoration work being done at the Etowah Carnegie Public Library, a quote by Marilyn Joiner should have identified the state agency working with Etowah officials on the project as the Southeast Tennessee Development District.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.