Built in 1954 as part of a City of Guthrie bond issue, the Excelsior Library opened in 1955. The library consisted of two library rooms housing 5,000 books and a larger community room with a stage for meetings. It operated as a racially segregated library until 1967 when the Excelsior Library and the Guthrie Carnegie Library were combined as part of desegregation. The building continued to be
used as a branch library until the new Guthrie Public Library building was built in 1970. Today the Excelsior is in danger, as time and maintenance issues have caused the building to fall into disrepair. The building was closed in 2014 and the Friends of the Excelsior Library have been formed to try to save the building. (Photo by Excelsior Library Foundation)
Excelsior Library
| City/Town: • Guthrie |
| Location Class: • Government |
| Built: 1956 | Abandoned: 1956 |
| Historic Designation: • National Register of Historic Places (2016) |
| Status: • Abandoned • Endangered |
| Contributor: Preservation Oklahoma |
| Year(s) Listed: • 2017 |