Taunton Public Library
library in Taunton, Massachusetts, United States
Taunton Public Library is the public library of Taunton, Massachusetts. It is located at 12 Pleasant Street, in an architecturally distinguished Beaux Arts building built in 1903 with funding support from Andrew Carnegie, to which a modern addition was made in 1979. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a particularly fine local example of Beaux Arts architecture.
Architecture and history
The Taunton Public Library is set on the south side of Pleasant Street, a short east–west road in the center of Taunton. It is set among a number of other civic and institutional buildings. The oldest portion of the building is a T-shaped masonry structure built out of Indiana limestone in 1903 to a Beaux Arts and Classical Revival design by Albert R. Ross. The leg of the T projects forward, creating a section three bays wide and one deep, with the main entrance at its center. The entrance is recessed within a round-arch opening, topped by a broken pediment and cartouche. The bays of the projecting section are divided by full-height Corinthian engaged columns, with Corinthian pilasters near the coroners. These support a multi-layer entablature, above which a dentillated cornice encircles the building below its truncated hip roof.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Taunton Public Library” as library in Taunton, Massachusetts, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as library in Taunton, Massachusetts, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7688800. Authority coordinates are 41.904, -71.095. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903 and 1979.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Taunton Public Library”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Taunton Public Library primary sources, Taunton Public Library archive and Taunton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Taunton Public Library”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Taunton Public Library” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.