COLUSA, CA (MPG) – One of Colusa’s most recognizable landmarks was the focus of a recent Colusa Rotary Club meeting as Rotarian Doug McGeoghegan shared the history and architectural significance of the city’s Carnegie Library, now home to the Colusa Police Department.
“The Colusa City Police Department doesn’t really look exactly like a police department,” McGeoghegan told Rotarians. “It looks like a castle or something like that. But it is indeed a Carnegie Library.”
The Classical Revival building at the corner of Sixth and Jay streets was completed in 1906 after the City of Colusa received a $10,000 grant from industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Designed by the architectural firm Stone and Smith and built by Miller and Blean of Colusa, the project ultimately cost $13,158, with the Colusa Women’s Club raising the additional funds needed to complete construction.
The library served the community until 1964 before city offices and later the police department moved into the building.
McGeoghegan explained that the building’s identity as a library remains evident through the names carved into the stone lintels above the first-floor windows: Shakespeare, Emerson, Milton, Darwin, Hawthorne and Bancroft. During his presentation, he discussed the literary and historical contributions of each figure and why they were chosen to represent the pursuit of knowledge.
He also highlighted the building’s architectural features, including its locally quarried Sites sandstone veneer, decorative metal pediment and carved stone details.
“What really struck me about this… the veneer is cut from Sites stone,” McGeoghegan said. “Architecturally, it’s just absolutely incredible.”
The building was designated a Colusa Historic Landmark in 1981 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. Colusa was one of thousands of communities across the country to receive Carnegie library funding during the early 20th century. Other nearby Carnegie libraries were built in Bayliss, Biggs, Chico, Corning, Gridley, Orland, Oroville and Willows.
McGeoghegan concluded his presentation by discussing Andrew Carnegie’s legacy, including one historical account linking the steel magnate’s philanthropy to tragedies associated with his steel business.
“While we’re grateful for the libraries, there’s that kind of interesting backstory,” McGeoghegan said.
Following the presentation, fellow Rotarian Jon Wrysinski spoke about the building’s future, noting that the City of Colusa is planning a new police station that could eventually leave the historic structure available for another civic use.
“I really hope that the city figures out another good use for it,” Wrysinski said. “Because if it stops being a police station… it’s just such a unique building.”
Wrysinski also noted that the library is one of the few remaining buildings constructed with locally quarried Sites sandstone, a material once used throughout the region.
“It’s just a very unique color and texture,” Wrysinski said.