The neoclassical library replaced a Queen Anne style library of 1897. Local leaders, especially businessman T. B. Fuller worked long and hard to obtain Carnegie funding for the new “first class library” facility (Durham Morning Herald, Nov. 10, 1916, July 8, 1921). The Durham Morning Herald of March 31, 1921, declared that the new library “is a beauty. It has all the modern improvements and conveniences of a building that is believed will please the public in every particular.” It was reported in the same paper on September 27, 1917, that the Carnegie fund would provide $32,000 and the local library board expected to realize at least $8,000 from the sale of the old library and property at Five Points.