George William Gordon (1872-1935), a Greenfield resident, was the architect recognized for this design and also designed many other Hancock and surrounding county establishments, including churches, schools and residences. The Carnegie Library building contributes to the Greenfield Courthouse Square District on the National Register of Historic Places. Its Neo Classical style architecture is noted by mild cream colors, geometric forms, symmetry, columns and a portico. The first cornerstone of the Carnegie Library was laid on the northeast corner of the building in November 1908 and bears that dated inscription. Inside were placed items of significance to the library, the school and the community, including the 1908 Librarian report, a list of library subscribers, the Rules and Regulations of the Public Library, the 1908-1909 Greenfield Public school list of 1,035 students, the manual of the Greenfield City Schools, copies of six Hancock County newspapers dated November 14, 1908, a history of each of the Federated Woman's Clubs, and a variety of coins. Construction was completed in 1909, and Andrew Carnegie's library inspector acknowledged it as the best of its class in the state. Andrew Carnegie, a national industrialist and philanthropist, granted money to 1,689 libraries in the country, and Greenfield received $10,000 in grant money.