Pike County library breaks ground on $5.9 million 'Next Chapter' building

- Advertisement -

The Garnet A. Wilson Public Library of Pike County held its groundbreaking ceremony Friday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. at 550 E. 2nd St. in Waverly, next to the Bristol Village Retirement Center, launching the “Next Chapter” project after more than a decade of fundraising and planning.

Phase One covers the full building shell plus a multipurpose space for community events, education and workforce development.

The $5.9 million project has nearly $3 million raised through donations, pledges and grants. That includes a $300,000 National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant, awarded 3-to-1, which required the library to raise $900,000 over about six years to draw it down fully.

Site work is pushed to spring because the civil engineering ran longer than expected.

The library has outgrown its current home, a building more than a century old that started as a chicken hatchery and livery stable. The existing site has just 12 parking spaces. Founded in 1939, the library has operated at Market Street and Emmitt Avenue since 1985, made possible by a gift from J.B. Wilson, who asked that it be named for his wife, Garnet A. Wilson.

Send a tip or correction to info@heritageheadlines.com.

Get the morning stories.

- Advertisement -