Other towns that rejected Carnegie libraries included Cleveland, Columbia, Franklin, and Chattanooga (for an African-American branch).
For various reasons, Carnegie also refused requests for libraries at Sparta, Knoxville, Clarksville, Martin, and Maryville College.
Moreover, Carnegie authorized the single largest grant for an academic library on an American university campus in Tennessee.
[1] Tennessee's twenty Carnegie libraries were groundbreaking civic spaces, whether located in small towns, large cities, or university campuses.
Designed by professional architects, these public facilities were intended to be more than book halls and reading rooms; rather, Tennesseans wanted their Carnegie libraries to serve as community centers, even as "Universities of the People," where men, women, and children of all races and classes could be enlightened, educated, or entertained.