The completed library included a second floor art gallery to which members of Eagle's Nest donated works for a permanent collection.

While the library building dates to the early 20th century the move toward intellectual outreach in Oregon started years before.

[2] The colony, founded in 1898 by sculptor Lorado Taft, was based on the bluffs flanking the east bank of the Rock River, overlooking Oregon.

[5] Two of the charter members of the art colony were the Chicago architects, Allen and Irving Kane Pond, who designed the Oregon Public Library building.

[5] The building was constructed after the Carnegie grant approval, and its first use came in October 1908 by Leon A. Malkielski, a colony member, for an exhibition of 100 paintings.

The colony tried to contribute to area culture by requiring its members to hold art shows, lectures, and other exhibitions throughout the early 20th century.

Hamlin Garland, a 1921 Pulitzer Prize recipient for literature, spoke at the Oregon library while he was a member of the Eagle's Nest Colony.

[2] That date marked the beginning of the library's permanent collection, which started with additions from members of the Eagle's Nest Colony.

Members donated twelve statues, twenty oil paintings, and four portraits to the permanent collection of the art gallery.

While it contains many elements common to Classical Revival architecture, the building's asymmetry and playfully creative style are distinctly characteristic of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The two-story Oregon Public Library has a full brick basement and approximately 5,500 square feet (510 m2) of floor space.

Its simple massing and noticeable lack of ornamentation throughout the structure connects the building closely to the Arts and Crafts movement.

Dark woodwork is found throughout the building, first in the stairwell to the gallery and its balusters and newel posts and then in the four-panel wooden interior door.

The entire entry facade is a gable-front, temple style design and on the library's east wing there are stone-capped modified buttresses.