In 1889, Thomas B. Scott, a lumberman, state senator, and the first mayor of Merrill, gifted $10,000 in his will to the city to establish a free library. The Merrill library was one of the first three libraries in northern Wisconsin. It initially occupied space in the Merrill City Hall.

In 1909, Merrill received a Carnegie Grant of $17,500 to build a new library building. Merrill chose architects Louis Ward Claude and Edward F. Starck to design the new library building. The architectural firm was widely known throughout the state for its Prairie School designs. Though they worked primarily on houses, Claude and Starck also designed a number of libraries, including several in the Prairie School style between 1908 and 1916. The 1911 T.B. Scott Free Library’s most striking feature is the Sullivanesque frieze that wraps around the building, just below the roofline. The library received a large addition in 2001.

The T.B. Scott Free Library is open during normal business hours.