In 1903 a commission from the Highland Park Woman's Club contacted Mr. Andrew Carnegie for a financial donation to construct a new library.

Mr. Carnegie was willing to donate $10,000 for the construction of a library building in Highland Park, provided that the city owned the site.

Mr. Arthur C. Thomson, of Brookline, Massachusetts offered to give the city a piece of property upon which to locate the new library.

The City Council proposed a levy increase spread over 7 years to raise the estimated $150,000 to build the new library.

The Chicago architectural firm of Holmes and Flinn (Morris Grant Holmes and Raymond W. Flinn) designed the original modified Gothic style structure built of Wisconsin limestone with Indiana limestone trim.