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Courtesy of Local History Room, Porterville Public Library Porterville, Tulare County
San Joaquin Valley/South area, Central Valley region
Opened 1908
Public library from 1908-1947
Demolished, 1947

Grant amount: $10,000
Architectural style: Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival
Architect: O. H. Huber

Porterville incorporated in 1902. The following year the Inter Se Society established a library, a long time goal of the club. At first little more than a reading room, it was located in upstairs office space, initially in the Taylor block and later over the Bank of America. Land for a library building was purchased for $6,000 raised through property tax after the voters failed to pass a bond issue. Then a local minister wrote a letter of application to Carnegie for $10,000. Lengthy negotiations were required, but the amount was granted in February 1907. The building was designed by O.H. Huber in the Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival style. Constructed in 1908, it served until 1947 when it was condemned as unsafe and demolished. The books were removed to the basement of City Hall and Porterville was again without a library until a new one was constructed in 1953.

A Centennial Celebration of the Porterville Public Library 1908-2008