The Jefferson Public Library is a historic Carnegie library building at 305 S. Main Street in

Jefferson, Wisconsin Jefferson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It lies at the confluence of the Rock and Crawfish rivers. The population was 7,793 at the 2020 census. The city is partially bordered by the Town of Jeffe ...

History

The library was built in 1911 through a $10,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Architects

Claude and Starck Claude and Starck was an architect, architectural firm in Madison, Wisconsin, at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm was a partnership of Louis W. Claude (1868–1951) and Edward F. Starck (1868–1947). Starck apprenticed with Edward Townse ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

designed the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

building. The one-story building has a brick exterior with an entrance topped by a large overhanging roof, rows of windows on each end, and a low

gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof c ...

with wide

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

. It has been identified as one of the best-preserved examples of a Prairie School library building in Wisconsin. The building is currently used by the Council for Performing Arts for offices. 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 1980 and on the State Register of Historic Places in 1989.

References

{{commons category, Jefferson Public Library (Jefferson, Wisconsin) Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Wisconsin Carnegie libraries in Wisconsin Prairie School architecture in Wisconsin Brick buildings and structures in Wisconsin Library buildings completed in 1911