Library Addition – Kearney NE

City:
Kearney, NE

Site Type:
Education and Health, Libraries

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Started:
1936

Completed:
1939

Designer:
Hugh McClure

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Site Survival:
Unknown

Description

In September 1935, the Kearney City Council voted unanimously to approve plans drawn by Hugh McClure for an addition to the library. The plans, together with an application for Public Works Administration (PWA) funds, were then forwarded to Lincoln for possible approval. To promote the project, the Chamber of Commerce hosted an evening of speakers to educate members of the Chamber on all of the New Deal projects that were being applied for at the time. John G. Lowe, a long-time member of the library board spoke for the library expansion project. Lowe stated that additional space was badly needed, and plans called for additions on the east and west sides of the present building, each measuring twenty by forty feet. The cost of the additions was estimated to be approximately $16,000.00. Lowe reminded Chamber members that the project was contingent on the city receiving a PWA grant.

In February 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) forwarded approval of the project to the city of Kearney; however the city did not have sufficient cash on hand to pay for its portion of the project. Originally filed as an application for a PWA grant, the request was transferred to the WPA, where it languished for several months. The PWA administrators in Nebraska had urged Kearney officials not to hold a bond election for the project until it was formally approved. With the transfer to the WPA and lack of communication regarding progress on the grant, the city had neglected to hold such an election, and Kearney lacked the funds necessary to match their grant. The WPA sent a certificate to the city clerk for the clerk’s signature, which would certify that money was available and the project could proceed at once. The clerk was unable to sign it, and the city began to hurriedly prepare for a bond election. Within weeks, petitions were filed with the city requesting a bond election for the issue. By this point, the city was only six weeks from their regularly scheduled election, and the city decided to put off the election until then to save money.

In advance of the April election, the Kearney Daily Hub published drawings of the library additions, as well as questions and answers about the scope and need for additional space. The library, as it was, was far too small for the collections of books it housed. Shelving was piled with books such that the top shelves were inaccessible, and the boiler room was used for storing reference materials. The population of Kearney had doubled since the library had originally been built. The two new wings, as planned, were very compatible with the original construction of the library, built around 1910. The additions created an H shaped building, with the original library as the cross bar of the H. Included in the changes on the interior were separate restrooms for men and women, a new charging station desk, new shelving, cloakrooms, and a workroom for mending damaged books.

For reasons that have not yet been determined through additional research, the library additions were not completed until November 1939, at which point the Library Board discussed how best to rearrange their spaces to best utilize the additions. The adult reading room was moved to the west wing, and the old adult reading room was transitioned into a juvenile reading room. The space originally used for juvenile reading was transformed into stacks.

Source notes

Kearney Daily Hub, 17 September 1935. Kearney Daily Hub, 1 October 1935. Kearney Daily Hub, 4 February 1936. Kearney Daily Hub, 22 February 1936. Kearney Daily Hub, 18 March 1936. Kearney Daily Hub, 7 November 1939.

Site originally submitted by Jill Dollberg on July 28, 2015.

Location Info


2020 1st Ave
Kearney, Nebraska 68847
Buffalo County

Coordinates: 40.696208, -99.083597

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