Carroll Library

The first Carroll Library had a chapel on its second floor. Baylor's Texas Collection says the 1903 building held the library below and a chapel under a dome, with stained-glass windows, above. After the February 11, 1922 fire, in which students and faculty rescued over half the collection, the rebuilt hall dropped the chapel for a third floor and gained a basement. The Strecker Museum and the J. B. Tidwell Bible Library used rooms here for a time. The main library moved to Moody Memorial Library in 1968, and a 1992 hailstorm led to the renovation finished in 1994.

What the plaque says

Carroll Library The Carroll Library has been a vital institution for Baylor since the early 20th century. The need for a central library became clear when Waco University consolidated with Baylor University at Independence in 1886, resulting in the opening of Baylor University. Holdings were spread throughout a number of libraries and literary societies making research difficult. Baylor's student newspaper, the Lariat, proposed the creation of a university library. In 1901, Baylor President, Oscar H. Cooper, requested the board of trustees to create the position of curator and librarian, and recommended the appointment of James J. Carroll to the position. F.L. Carroll, for whom the library is named, donated funds for construction. Building of the library and chapel began in April 1903. The library opened with an accumulation of about 18,000 books. A number of special holdings, including the Browning Collection (which later became the nucleus of the Armstrong Browning Library) and Texas Collection, have been held here. In 1922, fire destroyed the library, though many items were saved. The Baylor Alumni Association led a fundraising effort which resulted in the construction of a new building by 1923. During the next fifty years, various departments and offices occupied Carroll Library. In 1968, the main library moved, allowing the Texas Collection, which returned here in the 1950s, to expand. In 1993, the University renovated the library building. Today, Carroll Library continues to be a vital scholarly institution for students and faculty of Baylor University, as well as for others in Waco and throughout Texas. (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Armstrong Browning Library — steps away
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 0.7 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 0.9 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 1.2 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.

More markers nearby

• The Texas Collection — steps away
• Dr. David Richard Wallace — steps away
• Burleson Quadrangle — steps away
• Governor Patrick Morris Neff — steps away