Ephraim Carnegie Library

Ephraim Carnegie Library

It was built from 1914 to 1915. It was “one of 23 Carnegie libraries in Utah” built by the millionaire/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

The cost for the building was donated on the condition that the city provided the land, materials, staff and regular maintenance.

The library program in Ephraim started as early as 1880 when a small library was established in a rented room in the house of John F. F. Dorius. However, the operation would subsequently be taken up by the city council, and the library would be moved to a room in the old City Hall, until the construction of Carnegie Library in 1914.

The library is a one story brick rectangular building with a raised basement and a flat roof. It is similar to the other Carnegie libraries in Utah, but its particular distinction is its “Classical Revival decorative scheme applied to the exterior”. The name of this style is “Beaux Arts Classicism '' which was popular for public buildings from the 1890s to the 1940s. Some of the elements of this style incorporated into the Ephraim library include a facade with pilasters and a central pavilion, divided symmetrically, a raised basement with terracotta tiles, and a “pronounced cornice with modillions topped by a parapet”.

The Ephraim Carnegie library is one of the sixteen remaining Carnegie libraries in Utah, of the 23 originally built. These libraries represent the significant contribution to public education in Utah and across the nation which was made by the Carnegie Library program.