The Oconto Library Association was formed in 1878, six years after the Wisconsin Public Library Act was passed, which allowed villages and cities in the state to establish a library through the support of municipal taxation. Although the association was successful for a period, by 1891, it had ceased operations of its circulating library. Ten years later, former resident and well-known Oconto lumberman and businessman, George W. Farnsworth, wrote a letter to his son-in-law Oakman A. Ellis, who was still an Oconto resident. In that letter, he offered a gift of $15,000, which was to be used to purchase a site and build a library in Oconto. Not unlike Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic library building program, the only stipulation of the gift was that the city agree to levy a tax totaling $1,500 per year in order to cover the care and maintenance of the facility.

Following formal acceptance of the monies (and stipulation), the newly appointed library board selected Green Bay architect Henry A. Foeller to execute the building’s design. Foeller had previously completed plans for Green Bay’s Kellogg Public (Carnegie) Library, from which the Oconto design was clearly derived. The brick and stone-constructed, Neoclassical Revival-style building was dedicated on June 27, 1903, with Farnsworth giving the dedicatory address. The thrust of his message was that he came to the city a poor man and that his success was largely due not as a result of a formal education (which he did not have) but from the act of reading.

An addition was made the library in 1993; however, it was designed so that it would not compromise the original building’s historic character and the interior of the 1903 portion remains significantly intact. The building continues today to serve Oconto residents as an important center of education.

This is a public building. Please respect the hours of operation.