City librarian Lillian Gunter and the women’s literary society secured a grant from the Carnegie Foundation to help build this library. The tawny brick classical building’s principal floor over a raised basement is articulated with Tuscan pilasters of brick with a stone cornice below the brick parapet. The interior was modified by the not-for-profit community theater, formed in 1979, when the upper floor was converted to a one-hundred-seat theater, with seats repurposed from the Cooke County Courthouse.
On the same block at 214 S. Denton, the red brick Gothic Revival First United Methodist Church (1893) was designed by J. G. Garrett for a congregation formed in 1852. Large pointed-arched windows provide a light-filled interior, and the corner tower is heightened with a wood-framed third stage. Garrett was the architect/builder of many houses of the period in south Gainesville.