Chariton Public Library is located in

Chariton, Iowa Chariton ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,193 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Chariton is the primary distribution center for and the former corporate headquarters ...

, United States. The Library and Reading Room Association was formed in Chariton in 1879, but it was short-lived. The county superintendent of schools started a teachers' library in the

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

sometime afterward. By this time the community had a library of 800 volumes. with There was an effort by study clubs in town in 1898 to raise money and establish a free

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

. The Chariton Federation of Women's Clubs took the lead and opened a library with the books from the courthouse in two rooms above Gibbons Drug Store on the

town square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

. Citizens approved a local tax to support the library the following year. Librarian Margaret Brown and Library Board President Thomas Gay applied to the

Carnegie Corporation of New York The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

for a grant to build a library building, and on January 13, 1903, they were awarded $11,000. The

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

architectural firm of Patton & Miller was chosen to design the new building. It was dedicated on October 28, 1904. The Neoclassical style building is a single-story structure of dark brown rock-faced brick with Bedford stone trim. The symmetrical facade features a projecting portico with stone columns in the

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

, brick

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s, a stone

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

, and a triangular brick and stone

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. The building is capped with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

The interior plan of the building became known as the "Chariton Plan" because it was first used here before it was used for other libraries in Iowa. In 1993 the

Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mason City is known for its musical heritage, a significant ...

architectural firm of Bergland & Cram designed an addition that was added to the rear of the building. The library building was individually listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2005. In 2014 it was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the

Lucas County Courthouse Square Historic District Lucas County Courthouse Square Historic District is a nationally recognized Historic districts in the United States, historic district located in Chariton, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 ...

References

Library buildings completed in 1904 Chariton, Iowa Neoclassical architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Lucas County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Lucas County, Iowa Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Public libraries in Iowa Carnegie libraries in Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa {{Iowa-struct-stub