Franklin Carnegie Library

Built in 1914 (Renaissance Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

From the record

“Franklin Carnegie Library is an historic library building at 315 E Decherd in Franklin, Texas. Before 1913, the City of Franklin housed its 1,000 volume library in its city hall.”
Wikipedia article Franklin Carnegie Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 5 National Register listings published here for Robertson County · listed in 2005 · category: Building · built in 1914, Renaissance Revival architecture, by Wayne B. Patterson.

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. 315 East Decherd, Franklin, 77856
When was it listed? November 2005
Category. building
Census division. Franklin
When was it built? 1914
Architectural style. Renaissance Revival architecture
Architect. Wayne B. Patterson
National Register reference number. 05001337 - 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.

Fires near this property

82 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 82 fires within 5 miles of Franklin Carnegie Library between 2005 and 2020, burning about 856 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 1 was 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
Debris and open burning	49
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	18
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Power generation/transmission/distribution	4
Natural	3
Arson/incendiarism	1

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

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2019	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Texas A & M Forest Service	SANDY HILL
8 September 2019	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Texas A & M Forest Service	MAIN ST
8 September 2017	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	LITTLE MISSISSIPPI CEMETERY RD.
8 September 2017	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	17-107
7 September 2017	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	TFS 17-0000105
6 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	LITTLE MISSISSIPPI CEMETERY RD.
5 September 2019	Equipment and vehicle use	2.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	NAVASOTA VALLEY
4 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	LITTLE MISSISSIPPI CEMETERY RD.

Every fire recorded in Robertson County

Storms near this property

26 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Franklin, the town this property stands in, in 26 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 12 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2006	Lightning	Franklin	$30,000	Lightning struck and ignited several tanks of oil and gas early in the afternoon. Seven fire departments fought the fire for three hours before it was extinguished.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	$25,000	High wind removed the roof from a farm house.
May 2025	Tornado (EF0)	Franklin	$10,000	An EF-0 tornado touched down just west of Henry Prairie Rd south of Franklin and moved northeast across FM 46 and McNutt Road before lifting near Old Hickory Grove Road. Several trees and large tree limbs were blown down along the path, with minor damage to a few homes and outbuildings. Max winds were estimated at 80 mph.
April 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	$7,000	Large cedar trees were uprooted and large limbs broken on the south side of Franklin. Additional tree damage was reported elsewhere in town along with downed power lines and broken windows. A motorcycle was also thrown across the road.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	$5,000	Broadcast media reported that a roof was blown off of a laundromat and onto Hwy 79 in Frankin, TX.
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	$100	A tree was blown down by thunderstorm winds.
May 2024	Hail	Franklin	-	Broadcast media shared a photo of quarter sized hail in Franklin.
April 2022	Hail	Franklin	-	A public report indicated quarter sized hail in Franklin, TX.
June 2019	Hail	Franklin	-	A public report indicated quarter-size hail in the city of Franklin, TX.
April 2016	Hail	Franklin	-	A trained spotter reported half dollar sized hail in the city of Franklin.
May 2013	Hail	Franklin	-	Hail increased to the size of a half dollar in Franklin.
April 2010	Hail	Franklin	-	Quarter size hail was reported 1 mile west of Franklin.
February 2006	Flash Flood	Franklin	-	Water covering the road along Farm to Market 46.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	-	Several trees blown down.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	-	Large tree limbs broken off.
June 2004	Flash Flood	Franklin	-	County and secondary roads were flooded.
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	-	A large tree was blown down across Holly Cemetary Road near Highway 79 in east Franklin.
June 2004	Tornado (F0)	Franklin	-	A brief touchdown occurred with no known damage.
May 2003	Hail	Franklin	-	Golfball to baseball size hail was reported.
May 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Franklin	-	A tree was blown down on Highway 79.
January 1999	Flash Flood	Franklin	-	Heavy rains flooded Highway 46, north of Franklin.
April 2016	Hail	Franklin	-	no account filed
May 2013	Hail	Franklin	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	Franklin	-	no account filed
March 2002	Hail	Franklin	-	no account filed
April 1996	Hail	Franklin	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Robertson County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

1 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	Property	Distance	Listed
	Robertson County Courthouse and Jail	0.2 miles	1977

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 05001337 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Robertson County	All 5 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.
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.