Sayre Library (Second)

Date Built: 1893

Named For: David A. Sayre

The second Sayre Library was built in 1893, and funded primarily through donations from Mrs. J. A. Quisenberry and Samuel D. Burchard. Standing in front of what is now Sutcliffe Hall and next to Old Main, it replaced the first Sayre Library, and served as the college's library until construction of the Carnegie Library in 1913. The library included a large reading room, something the old Sayre library did not have, and capacity for 20,000 volumes. Following the completion of Carnegie Library, the college received an offer of $3,000 from _______ Lyons of Danville to convert the Sayre building into classroom and laboratory space for the biology department. The college decided, instead, to incorporate the building into the structure of the new Boyle-Humphrey Gymnasium. The two-story brick building was burned in the same November 23, 1914, fire that destroyed the just finished gymnasium. What little that remained of the Sayre structure was demolished in the rebuilding of the gymnasium.