a 1907 Beaux-Arts building with a hip roof covered
with tile, was built of
solid Lee marble with Andrew Carnegie funds, one of 2,500 libraries
Carnegie funded throughout the US.
(Oddly, there was initial resistance to accepting funds from Carnegie,
who was a neighbor at Lenox’s
Shadowbrook estate; a 1906 town meeting resolved differences, and the
money was applied to the
building.) When, in 1977, an addition to the library’s north side was
constructed, the defunct Lee marble
quarries were reopened so the marble would match. This site was
originally the home of Peter Wilcox and
hosted the very first Lee town meeting the day after Christmas, 1777
(interestingly, Wilcox’s son, Peter
Jr., was originally condemned to die, then pardoned, for his prominent
role in Shay’s Rebellion).
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