Granville Public Library

Granville’s library, with its attractive 19th-century design features and prominent location, is one of the first things a visitor to Granville will notice. Architectural historians call the style “Richardsonian Romanesque” although it was actually designed by George Keller (1842-1935) in a style similar to that of Henry Hobson Richardson. Keller also designed Union Station and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Hartford, where his ashes are interred in the arch.

Visitors may well ask if it is a “Carnegie library” meaning one of the over 2500 libraries funded by 19th-century steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie. That question may be met with a chuckle and “Nope. Anything but.” And therein lies the story.