Oroville, Butte County

Sacramento Valley area, Shasta Cascade region

Carnegie Building
1675 Montgomery Street
Oroville, CA 95965

opened 1912
Public library from 1912-1974
currently Butte County Public Law Library

grant amount: $10,000
architectural style: Classical Revival (Type B)
architect: W. H. Weeks

The Oroville Carnegie, a Classical Revival temple style library with pediment and columns, is located at the corner of Montgomery and Oak streets, the former a major thoroughfare. Its cement construction softened by the landscaping of adjacent Soroptimist Park with tall old maple, magnolia and other shade trees, it is an important contributor to Oroville's Montgomery Street civic buildings.

Oroville's library history dates back to an 1859 early mining town library, and it was one of the few to survive and be listed in an 1876 national survey; others were Placerville, Nevada City, and Knights Ferry. It was listed as a "ladies' library" and the ladies influenced Senator George Perkins to donate a downtown office building for the library and, in 1905, he donated the property. In 1907 the library was deeded to the city and in 1911 a Carnegie grant of $10,000 was received. W. H. Weeks designed the library; Frank Sullivan was the builder. A 1937 WPA restoration primarily affected the interior; further interior changes have been made to accommodate civic use. In 2008 the restoration of the Carnegie library building was completed. The Butte County Public Law Library has now been moved from the Butte County Superior Court to the historic Carnegie Library building.