1906 Classical Revival Bedford limestone Carnegie library, now a literary-arts nonprofit reportedly haunted by Dr. Waller Bullock seeking refuge from his teetotaler wife.
251 West Second Street, Lexington, KY 40507
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Building is free to enter during operating hours; class fees apply for literacy and writing programs.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Multi-story historic building with elevator access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1906 · Original Lexington Carnegie Library · Classical Revival Architecture · Gratz Park Historic District · Literacy Center Adaptive Reuse
The cornerstone of the Lexington Carnegie Library was laid in 1902, during Andrew Carnegie's mass library-building campaign that ultimately funded more than 2,500 libraries across the United States and abroad. The building at 251 West Second Street, at the south end of Gratz Park, opened in 1906 — a $75,000 Bedford limestone structure built around a $60,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. The building's Classical Revival composition, with its arched entrance and stone pediment, was characteristic of the architectural vocabulary Carnegie's foundation generally underwrote.
The building served as Lexington's central public library for most of the 20th century. After the public library system moved to a new and larger central facility on East Main Street, the historic Carnegie building sat in limbo until 1989, when then-Mayor Scotty Baesler championed its conversion into a community learning and arts center. Restoration and adaptive reuse work followed, and the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning opened in 1992 — with First Lady Barbara Bush, a literacy advocate, delivering the dedication keynote.
The Carnegie Center today operates as a nonprofit dedicated to literacy and the literary arts. It offers writing classes for adults and youth, hosts readings and author events, and runs programs aimed at adult literacy. The building's original architectural character has been retained, with public reading rooms, a children's wing, and small classrooms occupying the upper floors. It is a contributing structure to the Gratz Park Historic District.
Sources
The Carnegie Center's ghost lore is one of the most charming in Lexington precisely because it interlocks with the Bodley-Bullock House lore across Gratz Park. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader's haunted-locations coverage and Smiley Pete Publishing's Gratz Park feature, Dr. Waller Bullock — a founding partner of the Lexington Clinic and husband of the famously teetotaling Minnie Bullock — frequented the Carnegie Library after dinner. Minnie's will forbade alcohol on the Bodley-Bullock premises in perpetuity; Dr. Bullock's after-dinner whiskey habit had to find another home, and the library became a quiet refuge.
The ghost story holds that Dr. Bullock has continued his evening visits long after his death. Paranormal investigators including Marley Knockers Paranormal have conducted documented investigations of the building, and writeups credit the Bullock story with photographic captures said to show a figure consistent with Dr. Bullock's era and bearing. The published evidence here is largely investigator-controlled — investigation photography, EVP attempts during fundraising events — rather than spontaneous guest reports.
The Carnegie Center occasionally hosts public ghost investigations as community fundraisers. These are advertised through Smiley Pete Publishing and the center's social media channels and represent the most direct public-access path to the lore. The building's general operational character — a quiet literacy nonprofit serving as a community gathering space — makes day visits low-key on the paranormal front; the ghost stories are not foregrounded in regular programming.
Independent corroboration: A Yahoo News / regional Lexington feature on the city's most haunted locations includes the Carnegie Center, identifying the resident spirit and noting Waller Bullock's habit of crossing Gratz Park to escape his teetotaler wife Minnie's prohibition on whiskey at home. Smiley Pete Publishing has hosted recurring Carnegie Center ghost-hunt events at the building, and the Ghost Walk of Lexington routes through the property as a documented stop — three independent sources beyond the prior Gratz Park Neighborhood Association profile.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Carnegie Center has hosted public paranormal investigations as fundraising events — including a documented investigation by Marley Knockers Paranormal — that allow visitors to walk the building, hear its history, and participate in equipment-based investigation segments. These run on an irregular schedule; check the Carnegie Center website and Smiley Pete Publishing event listings.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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