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Photograph of San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library
Photograph by You may select the license of your choice, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library

Built in 1905 (Romanesque Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. 13 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.

From the record

“The San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library is a Carnegie library located at 696 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo, California. The library building was funded by the Carnegie foundation in 1903 and built in 1905; it housed the city's subscription library program, which had operated since 1894.”

Wikipedia article San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 32 National Register listings published here for San Luis Obispo County · listed in 1995 · category: Building · built in 1905, Romanesque Revival architecture, by W. H. Weeks.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 696 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, 93401
  • When was it listed? March 1995
  • Category. building
  • Also known as. California Carnegie Libraries MPS
  • Census division. San Luis Obispo
  • When was it built? 1905
  • Architectural style. Romanesque Revival architecture
  • Architect. W. H. Weeks
  • National Register reference number. 95000357 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1897 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet covering San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library, surveyed 1897

Fires near this property

323 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 323 fires within 5 miles of San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library between 1992 and 2020, burning about 11,235 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use136
Missing data/not specified/undetermined129
Debris and open burning11
Smoking11
Arson/incendiarism10
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Recreation and ceremony3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Natural2
Firearms and explosives use2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 1994Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitSLU 3082
8 September 2003Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitSTENNER
8 September 1994Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitSLU 3071
7 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitJOHNSON
7 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitCASLU04171
6 September 2019Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreSan Luis Obispo Unitnot named
5 September 2014Smokingunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitOCONNOR WAY /W FOOTHILL B
5 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitCUESTA

Every fire recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 41 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 41 workings within 5 miles of San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library: 17 past producers, 11 producers, 6 occurrences, 5 prospects. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Manganese, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Barnaberg MineMagnesiteProducer
Barneberg MineManganese, Iron, Gold, Silver, MercuryProducer
Lee QuarryStoneProducer
Porfumo Canyon Iron OccurrencesIronOccurrence
Prefumo Canyon ProspectsIron, ManganeseProspect1942
San Jose Valley MineMercuryProducer
San Luis Brick Works, Inc.ClayProducer
Staneuche MineManganese, SilicaPast Producer1917, 1918
Yoakum TractGold, Silver, CopperOccurrence
Yoakum TractCopper, Silver, GoldProspect

Every working recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Storms near this property

8 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Luis Obispo, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2001: 7 flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 1999FloodSan Luis Obispo-Urban flooding, along Los Osos road, was reported in the city of San Luis Obispo.
May 1998Tornado (F0)San Luis Obispo-A small tornado developed over the city of San Luis Obispo. The tornado knocked out power to several hundred homes. Also, four homes were damaged, including a home struck by a fallen cypress tree.
March 2001FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
March 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Maps showing this location

13 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Ah Louis Store0.2 miles2008
Robert Jack House0.2 miles1992
Myron Angel House0.3 miles1982
Pacific Coast Railway Company Grain Warehouse0.5 miles1988
Tribune-Republic Building0.6 miles1993
William Shipsey House0.9 miles2010

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 95000357 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
San Luis Obispo CountyAll 32 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.