Location Information
(for the Old Jackson Municipal Library)
Name:(Old) Jackson Municipal Library
Address:301 State Street, North
City/County:Jackson, Hinds County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:1954
Architectural Styles(s):Modern
No. of Stories:4
Registration Information
NR District Name:Spengler's Corner Boundary Increase (2019)
    NR Status:Contributing
    Element No.:32
Mississippi Landmark Information
Designated:09-22-1999
Recorded:10-06-1999
Book/Vol. No.:V. 5158, p. 41
Context/Comments
Built in 1954, this building served as the Jackson Municipal Library until the late 1980s. The Jackson Municipal Library was the site of a significant non-violent Civil Rights protest activity by the "Tougaloo Nine" and subsequent arrests on 27 March 1961. In the late 1980s the library moved across the street to the former Sears building, which became the Eudora Welty Library.

The building is included as a contributing element (element #32) in the enlargement of the Spengler's Corner Historic District that was placed on the National Register on 24 January 2019 as the Spengler's Corner Historic District Boundary Increase.

This building is included in "Jackson's North State Street (Images of America)" (2009) (pp. 93-95) and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (pp. 238-239, JM15).
Brief Description
A two-story flat-roofed stone institutional building, over a basement, facing east, that was constructed as the Jackson Municipal Library. The center of the facade is dominated by seven bays which are set slightly in front of the main plane of the structure which is smooth ashlar masonry. The entry, on the left, is three full-light single-leaf doors and the windows are three-light fixed. The entire building is topped by a simple shallow cornice.
Historic Information
This building was built on the site of the first and second buildings of First Presbyterian Church. The second building of First Presbyterian Church was demolished in 1951, and the library was erected on the site three years later.

After it ceased to serve as a public library in the late 1980s, the building was used for several years as an office building for the City of Jackson, but it has been unused since then. After a failed attempt to convert it into condominiums by a private developer, the building was sold to the Mississippi State Baptist Convention.