Ballinger Carnegie Library

Built in 1909 (Neoclassical architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

From the record

“The Ballinger Carnegie Library, at 204 N. 8th St. in Ballinger, Texas, is a Carnegie library which was built in 1909. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.”
Wikipedia article Ballinger Carnegie Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 4 National Register listings published here for Runnels County · listed in 1975 · category: Building · built in 1909, Neoclassical architecture.

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. 204 N. 8th St., Ballinger, 76821
When was it listed? June 1975
Category. building
Census division. Ballinger
When was it built? 1909
Architectural style. Neoclassical architecture
National Register reference number. 75002002 - 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

46 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 46 fires within 5 miles of Ballinger Carnegie Library between 2009 and 2020, burning about 302 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	21
Debris and open burning	11
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Natural	3
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2
Railroad operations and maintenance	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	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
21 August 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.5 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	CAMPBELL FIRE 3
20 August 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.7 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	CAMPBELL FIRE
17 August 2017	Debris and open burning	2.6 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	HALFORD FIRE
17 August 2017	Natural	5.1 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	HALFMANN FIRE
17 August 2017	Natural	26 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	GLASS FIRE
17 August 2011	Debris and open burning	1.5 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	HAUN FIRE
16 August 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6.2 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	FOWLER FIRE
9 July 2020	Debris and open burning	4.6 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	COVAGO FIRE

Every fire recorded in Runnels County

Storms near this property

60 of 135 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ballinger, the town this property stands in, in 135 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 79 hail, 34 thunderstorm wind, 11 flash flood, 4 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
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$100,000	no account filed
May 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$90,000	Strong thunderstorm winds blew a tree onto a truck. A few outbuildings were also destroyed.
March 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$70,000	National Weather Service surveyed damage northwest of Ballinger. They found evidence of damaging straight line west winds estimated at 80 to 90 mph. These damaging winds impacted mostly rural property about 5.5 miles northwest of Ballinger to Hatchel. The swath of wind damage was about 2.5 miles wide and 5 miles long. The powerful thunderstorm winds damaged about 34 power poles, caused roof damage to a barn, destroyed a shed, removed some vinyl siding from a home, moved some hay trailers, uprooted a tree, broke numerous tree limbs, and damaged an irrigation pivot system.
June 1997	Flash Flood	Ballinger	$50,000	Six inches of rain fell in Ballinger in a three to four hour period. City streets and roads throughout the county were flooded.
October 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$50,000	Golfball-size hail was reported in Norton by a weather spotter at the water plant at 1738 CST. The Ballinger Police Department reported golfball-size hail at the Ballinger city park at 1750 CST. The Runnels County Emergency Management Coordinator reported trees uprooted and downed power poles in Ballinger at 1810 CST.
May 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$50,000	no account filed
May 2012	Lightning	Ballinger	$45,000	A lightning strike knocked out the Runnels County dispatch communications system.
May 2005	Lightning	Ballinger	$15,000	Lightning set a barn on fire.
April 2007	Hail	Ballinger	$10,000	Golfball size hail and 75 mph winds were reported in Ballinger as a supercell moved across the city.
October 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$8,000	Tractor trailer was jacknifed due to the winds.
February 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$7,000	An isolated severe thunderstorm went through the southeastern tip of Runnels County and Southwest Coleman County along Lake Ivie. Damage was limited to pole barns and camper shelters at a camp near the lake. Wind gusts were measured at 77 MPH at one location and 59 MPH at another.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$6,000	Serveral power lines and trees blown down.
April 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$5,000	Trained spotter reported 75 mph winds and golfball size hail.
May 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$5,000	no account filed
May 2005	Hail	Ballinger	$3,000	Golfball size hail fell off and on in the same location for 30 minutes.
May 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$3,000	Large tree limbs were snapped off, and a propane tank was blown over.
April 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$2,000	Large tree limbs downed by high winds.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$2,000	Several large cotton trailers overturned
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$2,000	no account filed
May 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	$1,000	A carport in Ballinger was destroyed by high winds.
March 1995	Tornado (F0)	Ballinger	$1,000	Severe storms occurred in and near the Concho Valley. Spotters and local sheriff's offices reported many hail reports, though little damage was reported. A short-lived tornado was reported near Ballinger by the public and the Department of Public Safety. It ripped the roof off of a storage building.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Public estimated winds gusting to 65 mph. The report was from social media and time was estimated from radar.
March 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	The Ballinger Fire Department reported golf ball size hail in Ballinger.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	DELAYED REPORT: Picture from fire department of grapefruit size hail 4 miles east of Ballinger along County Road 123.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Public reported ping pong ball size hail.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Public reported golf ball size hail.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Public report of ping pong ball size hail at the Walmart in Ballinger.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Public reported quarter size hail.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	An amateur radio operator relayed a report of ping pong ball size hail at the hospital in Ballinger.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Law enforcement reported golf ball size hail.
May 2024	Tornado (EF2)	Ballinger	-	The tornado damaged trees off County Road 121 and County Road 122\|before damaging several structures at a private residence off \|County Road 123. The tornado moved a one story house off of its\|foundation and severely damaged a metal barn structure next to the\|home. The tornado damaged additional trees west of County Road 123. \|In addition, the tornado damaged wooden utility poles along County \|Road 123. The estimated peak wind of the tornado was 115 mph.
May 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Public reported 3 inch diameter hail 1 mile east of Ballinger.
June 2024	Hail	Ballinger	-	Law enforcement reported penny size hail.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Law enforcement reported windows were broken in Ballinger.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Law enforcement reported a power line blown down along Highway 83, just southeast of Ballinger.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Social media reported a tree blown down at the Runnels County Courthouse in Ballinger.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Law enforcement reported 2 power lines blown down in Ballinger. A vacant warehouse had damage to part of the roof, and part of the front of the building.
November 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Mesonet station reported a 61 mph wind gust.
April 2023	Hail	Ballinger	-	There was baseball to tea cup size hail reported in Ballinger.
April 2023	Hail	Ballinger	-	There was nickel to golf ball size hail covering the ground.
March 2023	Hail	Ballinger	-	There were windows broken by golf ball size hail.
May 2023	Hail	Ballinger	-	There was hail up to quarter size beginning to fall in the downtown area.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	There were power poles blown down in Ballinger due to strong winds.
May 2023	Hail	Ballinger	-	The time is based on radar.
March 2022	Hail	Ballinger	-	Also, wind gusts over 55 mph were reported.
March 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	The Ballinger Volunteer Fire Department reported a few trees and an adjacent shelter blown down by the damaging thunderstorm winds.
July 2020	Hail	Ballinger	-	The report was received through mPING.
October 2018	Flood	Ballinger	-	The public posted photos on Facebook of several streets flooded in Ballinger.
April 2016	Flash Flood	Ballinger	-	A trained spotter reported several low crossings flooded in Ballinger. In addition, a few vehicles were reported stalled near Bearcat Stadium.
July 2015	Flash Flood	Ballinger	-	Flash flooding was reported across Ballinger.
April 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	The sheriff's office reported four trees down of 21 inch diameter at FM 382 and FM 2647. In addition, large tree limbs were reported down on FM 382.
August 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	The public estimated 50 to 60 mph wind gusts resulting in half inch tree limbs down.
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	The broadcast media in Ballinger estimated a 60 mph wind gust.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Ballinger	-	Law Enforcement reported two utility poles, power lines, and a mesquite tree were blown down on the west side of Ballinger.
May 2013	Hail	Ballinger	-	An amateur radio operator reported numerous cars were damaged by the large hail along U.S. Highway 83 and just north of Ballinger.
May 2013	Hail	Ballinger	-	A storm chaser reported baseball size hail on the ground. Time was estimated by radar and previous reports.
April 2012	Hail	Ballinger	-	Nickel size hail was reported in Ballinger.
September 2012	Flood	Ballinger	-	The city park in Ballinger was closed due to water rising in nearby Elm Creek.
September 2012	Flood	Ballinger	-	Law enforcement froms Runnels County and Ballinger issued an evacuation order on the southeast side of Ballinger near the confluence of the Colorado River and Elm Creek. These evacuations were due to flooding.
April 2011	Hail	Ballinger	-	Golfball size hail covered the ground in Ballinger.

Every storm recorded in Runnels 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

2 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
	Van Pelt House	0.2 miles	1980
	Edwin and Hattie Day House	0.2 miles	1985

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 75002002 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Runnels County	All 4 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.