New markers added at library ‘to make history of library known’

October 13, 2021 | Cleveland Daily Banner (TN)
Author/Byline: GWEN SWIGER; Associate Editor | Section: News

History lives at the Cleveland Bradley County Public Library — not just on its shelves, but in its buildings and on new markers in front of each of its historic structures.

As you journey through downtown Cleveland, take time to stop and read about the city’s library history.

Several members from the Library Board and the Library Foundation were included in a Historical Marker Committee to find a way to share the rich history of the library buildings and “movers and shakers” who lived there with today’s residents of Cleveland.

Historical Marker Committee members were Dr. John Coats, Library Board member; Barbara Fagen, former Library Board chair; John Hagler, former Library board chair; Andrew Hunt, library director; Anne McReynolds, Library Board/Foundation member; Jim Park, past chairman of Library Foundation; and Margaret Schenck, Library Board chair.

“It was a group effort” to find a way to “make the history of the library known,” noted McReynolds. “All of the buildings are more than a 100 years old.”

“It is a gift to the community,” noted Fagen. Residents “will know the history of the library.”

Research was done, a design decided and markers put up with small tidbits of history concerning the houses, people and the library.

The first Cleveland Public Library is in what is now known as the Johnston -Tucker Center. There was so much the committee wanted to include on the marker, that two plaques were needed to hold the information.

In 1923, the Johnston family presented the Cleveland Public Library to the city of Cleveland as a memorial to Sarah Tucker Johnston. The gift included the P.M. Craigmiles House and 4,000 volumes as well as a branch at College Hill School with 860 volumes.

This was the city’s first public library.

One marker in front of the Johnston-Tucker Center, also known as the history branch, shares the history of the house and the people who lived there.

Built in 1866 by Pleasant and Caroline Craigmile, the house is of Italianate design with a three-story high tower, ornate cornices and expansive porches. Inside it has tall ceilings, intricate plaster moldings, walnut doors and Italian marble fireplaces. Besides design details, it also explains the ownership of the home until it was donated to the city.

The second marker provides a glimpse into the focus of the library. It notes “the family (Johnstons) charged that the library serve ‘the remotest and humblest citizen in the community.'” For six decades the structure housed Cleveland’s library.

In 1987, a 10,000-square-foot addition connected two of the city’s historic homes — the Hardwick-Jarnagin House and the Craigmiles House-Carmichael Annex, which are across the street on Ocoee Street from the history branch. The marker explains the library’s “main facility incorporates two of the historic homes” and includes three newer additions.

Built in 1883, the Victorian-styled Hardwick-Jarnigan House is “the cornerstone of the Cleveland Bradley County Public Library’s main complex.” The house was donated to the community in 1984 by Joe Corn Stuart, the great-granddaughter of C.L. Hardwick, to serve as an addition to the public library.

Built before the Civil War, the Craigmiles House-Carmichael Annex was built by Pleasant and Caroline Craigmiles for their children. It was very simple with eight rooms and handmade bricks covering the house’s exterior. The Craigmiles resided there before moving into the more ornate Craigmiles House across the street. The house “remained in private hands until 2005, when the Allan Jones Foundation, in recognition of Judge Virgil Carmichael” donated it to the community for use as a library.

The markers in front of each of the structures use photos as well as script to give a view of the past.

The Cleveland Bradley County Public is a 47,000-square-feet structure bridging the history and the future of the community.

One of the markers notes the “house portions and new construction spaces have been combined to make a homogeneous facility that allows for: the preservation of history; the exploration of new and emerging technologies; the encouragement of continuing education and lifelong learning; fun programming for all ages; and a communal place for sharing ideas, innovation and re-creation.”