Tucson Carnegie Library

I visited Tucson, Arizona this summer. Regular readers know I’m always keen to get a sense of a town’s library system — especially when there’s a former Carnegie Library building still standing. Of course I went to see it.

One of four Carnegie libraries built in Arizona (Phoenix, Prescott and Yuma have the others, all buildings still extant), Tucson’s opened in 1901. The $25,000 Carnegie grant was awarded in 1899, early in the lifetime of the Carnegie library funding. Later, as the program gained attention around the world, most of the grants were scaled down to about $10,000. Tucson benefitted by catching the early wave.

The early Tucson of the Spanish colonial era was a town of adobe brick, but as the city prospered, fired red brick became the building material of choice, as you’ll see in a number of posts I’ll publish about Tucson. Lumber was a rare resource in the western desert, and brick predominates in many towns.

Local architect Henry Trost designed the library in Neoclassical revival style.

Here it is in 1901, the year it opened.

A Series of Changes

Comparing that archival photo with mine, you can see that most of the exterior decorative features have been removed, especially the ornate triangular pediment, in 1961. The building was expanded more than once, most ambitiously in 1938 and 1961. Between those dates, a fire destroyed the library’s central rotunda and the dome, which was not replaced.

The structure served as Tucson’s main library for a long time: nearly 90 years. In 1990, it was replaced by the 90,000 square foot Joel D. Valdez Main Library half a dozen blocks to the north. The new main library occupies one side of a large public space, within easy walking distance of many of the city’s major structures, including the Pima County Courthouse and the original Spanish establishment, the Presidio.

The Carnegie building still serves a civic educational purpose; it’s now the Tucson Children’s Museum.

We went to see the old Carnegie on a Monday in midsummer. With school on summer break, there was a steady stream of families moving up the walk and climbing the steps to visit the obviously popular attraction.

Although the interior still has the soaring ceilings and central rotunda that branches into side and rear wings, not much of the original architectural details have survived.

I didn’t attempt to shoot a photo inside, because the place was bustling with children engaged in noisy and energetic exploration of innumerable interactive exhibits. The Counselor and I laughed to imagine what the librarians of an earlier era would have thought of the absolute pandemonium reigning in a place that once represented the epitome of quiet study.

One hopes they’d understand that the city’s long-ago investment in their library is still paying dividends, educating yet another generation of Tucsonians, although at a higher decibel level than once prevailed in the staid, formal structure.

Seeing the Carnegie building/Tucson Children’s Museum

The building stands at 200 S 6th Avenue, a block south of east-west Broadway, and faces Armory Park to the east.

Hours vary, according to days of the week. During winter, the museum is not open on Mondays, but in summer, Mondays offer discounted admission: $3 per person rather than the usual $9 (which explains the crowd at the museum on the day we visited).

There is metered parking along 6th Ave. and adjacent streets. There’s a parking garage across Armory Park, accessed from 5th Ave.

Get more information at childrensmuseumtucson.org.

The Joel D. Valdez Main Library is at 101 N. Stone Ave., at Alameda St. Check for hours, directions and parking at www.library.pima.gov/locations/MAI/.

Envoi: Libraries Large, Small and Little

The Tucson metro area has more than a million people, served by the extensive Tucson-Pima County Library System. Kudos to the citizens for their active support of public libraries.

Scattered around the city — as there are in many places — you’ll also find Little Free Libraries, established and stocked by local residents. Here are three we encountered in residential areas in Tucson. Who says reading is on the way out?

What’s your latest library encounter? Leave a comment. Support your local library.

© Brad Nixon 2019. Library archival photo courtesy Tucson-Pima Library System; Joel D. Valquez Main Library photo © Google 2019