| Strahorn, Carrie Adell, Memorial Library | |
| Coordinates: | 43.6531°N -116.6761°W |
| Architect: | Wayland & Fennell; McNeel, J.H. |
| Architecture: | Classical Revival |
| Added: | April 15, 1982 |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Refnum: | 82002510 |
Carrie Adell Strahorn Memorial Library at the College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho, was designed by Boise architects Wayland and Fennell as a 1-story, Neoclassical structure. The building opened in 1926 and served the college as a library until 1967 and the opening of Terteling Library. In 1968 the building was renamed Strahorn Hall, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]
The city of Caldwell was platted in 1883 by Robert E. Strahorn, and in 1891 the College of Idaho enrolled its first class of 19 students at a location near Strahorn's home in what is now the North Caldwell Historic District.[2] [3] The college moved to its present campus in 1910.[4]
In 1925 Strahorn donated money for construction of the Carrie Adell Strahorn Memorial Library, named in memory of his wife.[1] At the time, the college employed 25 faculty with an enrollment of 500 students.[5] [6] By 1932 the library included more than 10,000 books,[7] and in 1942 the count was 22,000 books.[8]
The library was expanded in 1962, and when a new library opened in 1967 Strahorn was remodeled, reopening in 1968 with offices and classrooms under the name Strahorn Hall.[9]
Reflecting on the building, a librarian wrote in 1961, "On the day it first opened its doors in 1926 Strahorn Library was already a badly outdated building whose construction violated every theory of library architecture."[1]