Before 1913, Franklin housed a library of 1,000 volumes in its City Hall. In February of that year, Mayor R. M. Cole (1848-1931) applied to the Carnegie Corporation of New York for funds to build a new library, and the corporation approved the plans and granted $7,500 for the project. The brick building, with classical details and a pressed-metal roof resembling tiles, was designed by an architect named Patterson and completed in 1914, although it served as a library only through 1918. School classes and public activities were held there through 1984.