Perhaps no building in Georgia was ever erected with more meticulous attention to detail, line, color and variety of material than this High-Victorian Queen Ann building. Dr. Francis Willis, who gave the Library to the town (opened Christmas day, 1888), engaged the service of the highly skilled architect Edmund G. Lind. Mr. Lind was educated and served his apprenticeship in London. His drawing (lithograph) of the proposed building is preserved in the Library.

The brick work of the exterior is especially graceful and well-patterned and the terra cotta inserts lend variety and interest. Stone, inserted in bands around the windows adds color and textural excitement. The iron-bended front doors, the brass knobs and locks, the soft glow of the Tiffany window and the smaller windows add brightness and sparkle to the warm red of the old bricks.

Since its opening day, the Library has kept a guest register which has been signed by visitors from all over the world. The great fireplace are no longer used but the graceful gas chandeliers (converted to electricity) still serve. The portraits are of the distinguished Washington citizens and in the large Tiffany stain-glass window, Mary Willis (in whose honor her father gave the Library) is commemorated.

There is a marvelous collection of first editions of Georgia writers, many of whom are Washington natives for this small town has produced a phenomenal number of published writers, ministers, and educators. There is also a good genealogical section relating to original Wilkes, the Craddle of Georgia. The Library is now the regional Library for Wilkes, Taliaferro, and Green Counties.