Mount Pleasant Public Library

Hours

Monday: 11am - 5pm

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: 11am - 7pm

Friday: 11am to 5pm

Saturday: 11am - 3pm

History

Built in 1917, the Mount Pleasant Carnegie Library is significant as one of the sixteen remaining Carnegie libraries of the twenty-three built in Utah. Thirteen of the sixteen library buildings maintain their original integrity and are included in the Carnegie Library Thematic Resource Nomination. In addition to making significant contributions to public education in their respective communities, these libraries are Utah’s representatives of the important nation-wide Carnegie library program, and they document its unparalleled effect in the establishment of community-supported, free public libraries in Utah. The Mount Pleasant Carnegie Library is also architecturally significant as an excellent example of the local expression of the Prairie Style in Utah, a distillation of the style made popular in the Chicago area. It is one of only three Carnegie libraries in the state designed in that style, and is one of the best of less than twenty well preserved examples of the style in the state.

The Mount Pleasant Carnegie Library is one of the important works of the Salt Lake City based architectural firm Ware & Tragenza, one of the most prolific and successful architectural firms in Utah during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Although best known for their residential designs, they also designed numerous commercial and institutional buildings in Salt Lake City and throughout the state. Ware and Tragenza designed at least three other Carnegie library buildings in Utah, including those in Lehi, Springville and American Fork. The styling of each of their Carnegie libraries was different and the Mount Pleasant Carnegie Library is the only one they designed in the Prairie Style.