This Beaux-Arts classical library was a memorial to civic and business leader B. S. Ricks by his wife, Fannie. It provided space for the first time for the book collections and programs of the Yazoo Library Association, established in 1838 as part of the Lyceum Movement, which emphasized debates and essay readings. Faced with gray, pressed brick, the symmetrical three-part building has a central two-story block that is further emphasized by a semicircular portico on paired Roman Doric columns. The compact building’s monumentality is enhanced by its classical proportions, paired fluted pilasters, dentiled cornice, balustrade, and a crowning cartouche. Inside, an entrance hall with a barrel-vaulted and coffered ceiling leads to the large central reading room, a space magnified by the semicircular rear area and a stained glass skylight. A modernist rear addition (1970, Jack Decell) respects the original building in its similar scale and light-colored brick.
Alfred Zucker (1852–1913) emigrated from Silesia, Germany, in 1873 and worked briefly in Washington, D.C., for Alfred B. Mullett. In 1876 he moved to Mississippi, where he served the Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad as consulting architect. He left the state in 1882.