The Kewanee Public Library is a Carnegie library located at 102 South Tremont Street in Kewanee,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The library was built in 1907–08 to house the city's public library, which was formed in 1875 and had previously occupied a room in the town hall. The city's first attempt at building a Carnegie library came in 1901, but it could not secure funding to match Carnegie's $20,000 grant; later in the decade, it approved additional community funding and convinced Carnegie to supply an additional $5,000. Chicago architects

Patton & Miller Patton & Miller was an architectural firm of Chicago, Illinois. Normand Smith Patton and Grant C. Miller designed over 100 Carnegie libraries nationwide, including Buffalo Township Public Library, built in 1894, and 14 more in Illinois.Schnell ...

, who were well known for their work on Carnegie libraries, designed the

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

building. The library's design includes an entrance flanked by four stone columns and topped by a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

, stone

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s to either side of the front windows, and a classical

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

with a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

and

dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Reviv ...

lated

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

. The library was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on May 31, 2006.

References

Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Carnegie libraries in Illinois Neoclassical architecture in Illinois Library buildings completed in 1908 National Register of Historic Places in Henry County, Illinois 1908 establishments in Illinois {{HenryCountyIL-NRHP-stub