McFarlin Library was built in 1929 at the same time as the Tyrrell Fine Arts Building and the Phillips Petroleum Engineering Building. The fine craftsmanship and materials that went into these buildings reveal a commitment to quality not often found in construction today. Crab Orchard sandstone from Tennessee, Bedford limestone from Indiana and slate from Vermont, all variegated materials, and a small amount of blue limestone were used by Henry C. Hibbs, Nashville architect to obtain the desired architectural effect. The walls of all three structures are of solid stone, 15 inches to 24 inches thick, furred on the inside with two-inch clay tile. Slate roofs are placed on tongue-and-grooved wood sheathing, insulated and protected underneath by a reinforced concrete slab. All flashings and gutters are of copper. Steel casements glazed with a delicate shade of leaded cathedral glass form the windows. Stained glass medallions add the overall beauty of the windows.
McFarlin Library was the first of the three new buildings to be erected and was selected as the central feature. The library became the major axis of the campus and its location dictated the future growth of the campus. Robert M. McFarlin, known in the Southwest for his contributions toward church and educational memorial buildings, and his wife, Ida Mae Barnard McFarlin, donated the structure, the book stacks and the furnishings. McFarlin, with P.A. Chapman., J. A. Chapman and H. B. Gooch as partners, had drilled an oil well in the Glen Pool District in 1906 and continued to expand his oil, gas and ranching interests until his death in 1941.
Rising from the middle of the building is the tower which originally contained an electric elevator, stairs and a spiral book chute. The first floor of the library contained the catalog room, librarian's office, work space, lobby and entrance vestibule. The three other floors and their mezzanines were devoted to book stacks. In one wing of the basement was the men's locker room; in the other, the women's locker room. Reading rooms were situated in both the north and south wings on the second floor and in the north wing of the third floor while a browsing room was provided in the south wing of the third floor. Stenciled acousti-celotex still decorates the spaces between the beams of the ceilings in these rooms.
