Contractors Frank Lewis and Sons of Bainbridge were hired to construct the new library building.\u00a0 Ground was broken in July 1937.\u00a0 The original plans called for a large main library hall, a vestibule entrance, a medium-sized work room, and a stack room.\u00a0 Benefactor Clark Minor was involved in many of the design and construction decisions.<\/p>\n
He also contributed ideas from his background as General Electric President.\u00a0 He asked GE specialists to design a model electric kitchen.\u00a0 It featured an electric refrigerator, small range, sink, and cabinets.\u00a0 Minor also installed a General Electric automatic hot air heating unit run by natural gas. This was considered a very modern type of heating system in the 1930s.<\/p>\n
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Several important changes were made to the original design.\u00a0\u00a0 The architect\u2019s blueprints \u00a0were reversed to allow better lighting in the main room. Original plans called for an brick exterior overlaid with white cement.\u00a0 Trustees asked to leave the bricks in their natural red color.\u00a0 The built-in steel shelves in the main room had the capacity to hold 4,000 books.\u00a0 The proposed \u201cstack room\u201d became a children\u2019s room. Visitors to the library today will find much of the building looks exactly the same as it did in 1937.<\/p>\n
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Only five months elapsed between ground-breaking and completion.\u00a0 The speed and efficiency of the contractors is even more impressive when you note the beautiful craftsmanship of the pine woodwork gracing the fireplace and the main rooms.\u00a0 The cost of the library building is also remarkable, in light of construction costs today.\u00a0 Site cost was only $2,200.\u00a0 Total cost of the building was $12,307.<\/p>\n
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Furnishings for the building included two reading tables, two round tables, 12 Windsor chairs, 4 ship\u2019s captain\u2019s chairs, a desk and revolving desk chair, a steel filing cabinet, and two overstuffed leather fireplace chairs.\u00a0 The total cost of this furniture was a mere $641. \u00a0The two long tables, Windsor and captain\u2019s chairs, and two leather chairs are still in use at the library today.<\/p>\n
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The new Deposit Free Library opened its doors to the public on December 18, 1937. \u00a0It was an immediate success.\u00a0 The December 23, 1937 Courier reported, \u201c\u2026library officials have dreamed of the day when this useful enterprise would be housed in a modern building of its own.\u00a0 That dream has become a reality and the library is today occupying a splendid new building which is an architectural gem, modern and complete in all of its equipment, an object of pride for every citizen of the village.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Contractors Frank Lewis and Sons of Bainbridge were hired to construct the new library building.\u00a0 Ground was broken in July 1937.\u00a0 The original plans called for a large main library hall, a vestibule entrance, a medium-sized work room, and a stack room.\u00a0 Benefactor Clark Minor was involved in many of the design and construction decisions. … <\/p>\n