Monroe Carnegie Library, also known as Old Monroe Carnegie Library, is a historic Carnegie library located at Bloomington,

Monroe County, Indiana Monroe County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 1910 the United States Census Bureau, US Census Bureau calculated the nation's mean center of U.S. population, mean population center to lie in Monroe County. The ...

. It was built in 1917, and is a one-story, rectangular, Neoclassical style

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

building on a raised basement. The Monroe County History Center is a history museum the historic library building that was established as a Carnegie library. The museum is located on the site of Center School in the former Bloomington Public Library building. The library building is now home to the Monroe County Historical Society, their collection of artifacts, and their Genealogy Library. A historical marker is present at the site. The History Center is located at 202 East 6th Street. It is a tourist attraction. The building measures approximately 50 feet by 40 feet, and has a two-story

concrete block A concrete block, also known as a cinder block in North American English, breeze block in British English, or concrete masonry unit (CMU), or by various other terms, is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. The u ...

addition built in 1955. It features arched windows and a projecting arched entryway topped by a

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

style roof. It was constructed with a $31,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs. It was 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 1978. The Monroe County Public Library vacated the building in 1970; by 1978 and through the 1980s it was used by various nonprofits. On April 27, 1985 Glenn Danzig's

Deathrock Deathrock (or death rock) is a rock music subgenre that merges punk rock and post-punk with Gothic fiction, gothic and glam rock visuals and elements of horror film scores. Often overlapping with, and sometimes considered a subgenre of, gothic ...

band

Samhain (band) Samhain was an American Rock music, rock band formed by singer Glenn Danzig in 1983, immediately following his departure from The Misfits (band), The Misfits. Glenn Danzig originally planned Samhain as a side project with Eerie Von. After the M ...

performed there during their Unholy Passion EP tour. Since 1994, the former library houses the Monroe County Historical Society.

References

Carnegie libraries in Indiana History museums in Indiana Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Neoclassical architecture in Indiana Library buildings completed in 1917 Buildings and structures in Bloomington, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Indiana {{MonroeCountyIN-NRHP-stub