Bryan Carnegie Library

Street in Bryan, Texas, has been the focal point of Bryan's cultural and civic affairs since it was opened, in 1903. The Library's grounds are Bryan's only public greenspace.

In 1895, twenty-five women formed the Mutual Improvement Club of Bryan (which became the "Women's Club" in 1909) for the expressed purpose of planting trees along Bryan's streets, creating a city park, and establishing a free public library. In 1902, two of the club's most prominent members, Mrs. Rose Fountain Howell and Mrs. George M. Brandon, assumed sponsorship of fund raising activities for the construction of the library.

A direct appeal for funds was made to Andrew Carnegie through Thomas W. Stewart, a Galvestonian financier whose father had been a close friend of Carnegie. Stewart was the brother-in-law of Li Hie Wilson, whom the mutual Improvement Club had designated as Bryan's first librarian. Stewart succeeded in obtaining a grant of $10,000 from Carnegie for the construction and furnishing of the library. There were no stipulations with the funds, other than an agreement that the city of Bryan would provide a building site, and $1,000 a year for the Library's maintenance and acquisition of books.

The Bryan City Council accepted the agreement and appointed a nine member board of managers for the library, which included Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Brandon. A portion of Bryan's downtown municipal park was chosen as the site for the library, and building contracts were made with the Howell Lumber Company, the H. T. Lewis Construction Company, and F. E. Gieske, the Library's architect who was on the architectural faculty at nearby Texas A&M University.

The Classic Revival Library opened its doors on December 17, 1903. The purchase of books for the library became a community wide project, initiated with a $1500 donation from the Mutual Improvement Club. In addition, substantial contributions from individual citizens of Bryan were received. A private circulating library, founded by Mrs. Howell in 1900, agreed to donate its entire collection to the library, as well as future purchases after each new book had made one circuit among each of the club's members. The Malcom Mclnnis family, prominent local residents, gave a reception for the library's benefit and invited virtually the entire population of Bryan, asking one book per person as the admission charge.

The newly completed library building had a second floor auditorium which became the focal point of Bryan's cultural and civic activity. It was the permanent meeting place of the Women's Club, housed various church congregations during the construction of new buildings, and was the scene of public meetings and political speeches. In 1919, the library was chosen as the permanent reunion hall for the survivors of Hood's Texas Brigade.

The Hood's Texas Brigade Association, a group of confederate veterans from the famed Texas unit,held annual reunions from 1872 to 1933. prior to 1919 the group met at various locations in Texas, twice previously in Bryan, in 1876 and 1902. The utility of the library's auditorium, and the hospitality of the citizens of Bryan appealed to the organization for which a champagne reception was given on the library grounds each year, after the library was designated as the permanent meeting hall in 1919. The Hood's Texas Brigade Association inserted a small plaque to the right of the library's main entrance which reads "Hood's Brigade, Bryan, our last headquarters, and this building our last home."

Hood's Texas Brigade was the most well known of Texas' confederate units, and the only one from Texas which fought as a body, in the eastern theater of the Civil War. General John Bell Hood, the Brigade's commander, was the youngest confederate General, and assumed command of the Wilderness Campaign from fellow Texan, General Albert Sidney Johnston. Hood personally officiated at the reunion each year until his death in 1879. The last known member of the reunion association died in 1934, a year after the last reunion meeting.

During both World Wars I and II the auditorium of the library became a small factory, with Red Cross volunteers preparing shipments of clothing, blankets and bandages.

In 1944, Mrs. Lee J. Rountree, president of the Library's board of managers, established the Children's Educational Foundation, to create a separate library for children which would provide special services and programs. Mrs. Rountree obtained donations from townspeople as well as former residents for the project. The auditorium was slightly altered, with painting and decoration, an in 1953 became the Rountree Room for Children. The stage was occasionally used for the presentation of plays and lectures, and the auditorium itself was filled with shelves of children's literature.

A new public library was constructed in 1968, and the Carnegie Library was occupied by the Bryan City Planning and Traffic Departments. The Library was carefully renovated to maximize the reversibility of the alterations. The fine coffered ceilings and cast iron pillars on the interior were not removed, and fluorescent office lighting was dropped from the ceiling on an independently suspended grid.

The citizens of Bryan are conscious of the architectural and historical value of the Carnegie Library, and plans are being made to restore the structure and use the interior space for a local museum, and as a meeting place for local, civic, historical, and cultural groups.