Groundsite Image Gallery
Lawrence City Library
Artist: Hughes, Langston
Height: 0.000"
Width: 0.000"
Lawrence City Library, 200 West Ninth St., intersection of Vermont and Ninth (1904)
At a time when Lawrence movie houses and swimming pools excluded African Americans, the library was open to everyone. Langston Hughes wrote that he discovered the world of books in Lawrence. It is likely Hughes used this library. He would have walked by the library, one block from Central School, on his way to after school jobs on Massachusetts St. and maybe Vermont St.
The 1904 Carnegie building served as the city library until 1972. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.