Frederick

TILLMAN COUNTY

 Frederick Public Library Statistics

Frederick was started in Oklahoma Territory, its Carnegie Library was formally opened in February of 1916 , after statehood was granted in 1907.

The Carnegie Grant for Frederick was $10,000.00, given in 1914, plans were drawn up and approved in April of 1915.

The lot was donated for the library's location by the Cameron Lumber Company.

A. H. Krause was the architect.

The library continues to serve its community today as a public library.

Frederick Carnegie Library

    The Frederick Carnegie Library is the perfect example of the original idea of a small town public library as desired by Andrew Carnegie and his secretary James Bertam. With a central librarian's desk, and reading rooms located to either side, with book shelves mounted along the walls, it was an efficient machine for the dispensing of information that could be operated by 1 individual.

    Many libraries built after the turn of the last century no longer featured librarian's offices hidden away from the public, where the male librarian ruled affairs from an upper floor. The new ideas of centralized service, enhanced by sturdy oak furniture created by the Library Bureau furniture company, set the stage for the evolution of library service. With a female librarian centrally in place as the guardian and dispenser of knowledge, this new idea of librarianship and accessibility continued to develop into a philosophy that is still followed in libraries serving the public today.

    The Frederick Carnegie Library, small and compact, still offers to the public the basic elements of a classic facade: a triangular pediment supported by 2 Corinthian columns. However, we continue to see the evolution of architectural styles, as the pediment is set into a gabled roofline, and with the classical columns we find  projecting square elements that embrace the front porch of the building. The pediment contains an open book and laurel leaves.