History of the Library

In 1915, the town of Etowah, Tennessee was just beginning to take shape. The town had been incorporated only a few years earlier in 1909, but was quickly growing up around a passenger depot on the L&N Railroad line.  

Recognizing the need for a library, a committee that included a newspaper editor, a lumber dealer, a civil engineer, a building contractor, an automobile dealer, a railroad superintendent, and the town recorder was formed. Their objective was to petition the Carnegie Foundation of New York for a library building. At the time, the Carnegie Foundation provided grants for library buildings to towns with over 1,000 residents. In their letter to the Carnegie Foundation, the committee described Etowah's rapid growth, emphasizing the influx of railroad workers and their families who needed a library for their enjoyment and education.

On September 29, 1915, the Carnegie Foundation granted the City of Etowah $8,000 to construct their library building. The L&N Railroad Company generously donated a plot of land to the cause, and the effort to build the Etowah Carnegie Library began.

The library has now been in operation for over 100 years. Throughout the decades, the library building has served many functions and weathered many cultural and economic changes. 

Shortly after the library building was completed, the Etowah High School found itself in need of a larger building. The high school met in the library from 1918-1922 until the new school building was finished. 

After the high school relocated, municipal offices were established on the first floor. This included the offices of city officials and City Commission chambers. A new City Hall was constructed on Tennessee Avenue in 2018, so the first floor is now used for library purposes. It is currently being utilized as a volunteer-run book sale. 

The library grounds have served a variety of purposes as well. Early on, the grounds were home to a park, a jail, and the first Etowah Fire Station. After World War I, the park was used for the display of captured German artillery. In late 1960's, the park was used for the construction of a combination police and fire department building. The police and fire departments have since been relocated and the property is in use as a park once again. The 1939 American LaFrance Pumper Truck that was once used by the Fire Department is on permanent display at the park.

Etowah Carnegie Library joined the Tennessee Regional Library System in 1961 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The volunteer-run non-profit group Friends of Etowah Carnegie Library was chartered in 2011. Most recently, the library celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2015. The library remains a vital community resource, committed to serving the people of Etowah and surrounding areas.

A key part of Etowah’s history was the Etowah Enterprise, a weekly newspaper that circulated in Etowah for over eighty years (1907 to 1991).

Today, digital copies of the Enterprise are available for viewing at Etowah Carnegie Library. The Friends of Etowah Carnegie Library successfully raised enough funding to have the Enterprise records digitized in 2018, as the library’s bound copies were becoming too fragile to handle. Digitized records of the Enterprise span its run from 1924 to 1991. 

The old Enterprise building still stands on Ohio Avenue, directly across the street from the library. It was originally a wooden structure that was later covered with stone veneer.