Library – Nehawka NE

Description

On November 9, 1933, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order creating the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and providing $400 million from the Public Works Administration funds for the new organization. The goal of the Executive Order was to put four million of America’s unemployed to work by January 15, 1934. By November 16, 1933, all relief work beneficiaries and projects were transferred to the CWA. Within another month, well over two million people were already employed on CWA projects, and the CWA had advertised that funds were available for building projects. The Nehawka Public Library was no doubt one of the more modest projects funded in part through a CWA grant, though the building’s completion was made possible through the efforts of the Nehawka Woman’s Club.

The Nehawka Woman’s Club was founded on October 18, 1927, with a total membership of twelve. The mission of the club was “to promote intellectual ideas, to be of mutual helpfulness, and to promote community spirit.” Within a year, the club’s membership grew to forty-eight. At the April meeting in 1928, the club began to discuss the founding of a library. A committee was established to pursue the possibility, and the Nehawka library was created by July 1929 through the donation of books that were housed in the lounge of the public auditorium. After starting with thirty donated books and seventy-five books from the Nebraska Traveling Library, the library eventually grew to house a collection of over one thousand titles.

In December of 1933, when the Nehawka Woman’s Club learned of the availability of CWA grants, the club sponsored an application for funds to be used in erecting a permanent library building. The grant was approved and the club was appropriated $515 to be used for labor. This was not a large sum of money, and it was clear that more money would be required to complete the project. The Nehawka Enterprise published a plea for assistance and cooperation in its 14 December 1933 issue: “Considering the nature of the project, it is hoped that everyone in the community will co-operate [sic] in making it a success. There must be some work donated to complete it at once. If any farmer wishes to give the service of a team to haul material, or in any way help with the work, the favor will be greatly appreciated.”

In response, the Nehawka Woman’s Club voted at their December 18 meeting to actively promote the project. The Library Committee of the Woman’s Club volunteered to coordinate efforts of the volunteers who would donate labor and materials, as well as to raise money for the materials that would need to be purchased.

The plans for the library called for a log cabin to be situated in a small park, dedicated as a memorial to the pioneers of the community. The log cabin form was selected because it could be simply and inexpensively built, and, according to the Nehawka Enterprise, would remind citizens of the pre-railroad era settlement of Nehawka’s pioneer past. Mrs. M. N. Tucker donated several lots of land for the library. Plans called for the library to be built on the foundation of the old Tucker house that had previously occupied the site, but had been lost to fire. By building on an existing foundation, they were able to take advantage of a pre-existing basement, which would be used for the storage of fuel for the furnace.

The town, with a population of 298 (1930 Census), did in fact pull together to get the construction of the library started. By 21 December 1933, men from Nehawka had already gone to the Nutzman farm east of Murray to select and cut the logs for the building, all donated by Mr. Nutzman. Several teams of horses were donated for dragging the logs back to Nehawka, but the effort was found to be too difficult for horses. County Commissioner Chapman offered the use of a small caterpillar tractor for dragging the logs to the road for loading on trucks. The oil dealers and garage men of Nehawka furnished the gas for the trucks. Alvin McReynolds offered to obtain the red cobblestones for facing the fireplace and the chimney from Otoe County, and the Woman’s Club brought lunches to the men while they worked. The Nehawka Enterprise took an opportunity to thank the volunteers for all their assistance, and added that
“If we attempted to mention each individual who has volunteered to assist with the work connected with the library, we would certainly have a roster that any community could be proud of. That’s what we call community spirit.”

Construction on the library began in December 1933. Within a week of being allotted the grant money, workers had hauled the Nutzman logs onto the site. Mr. Obernalte acted as foreman during construction, and by 8 February 1934, the logs had all been arranged and the workers had completed chinking in between them for weatherproofing purposes. Unfortunately, the building effort was already beginning to run out of funds by that date as well. County Commissioner E. B. Chapman accompanied a group of Nehawkans to Lincoln to appear before the Nebraska CWA Board to apply for additional funds. The board allotted fifty dollars for materials and an additional $240 for labor, which would pay for another week of work for the men that were presently employed on the site.

Work on the log cabin was suspended during the summer, due to extreme heat. By September, the heat had broken and the committee was eager to complete construction on the library. M. N. Tucker wrote to the Portland Cement Company to request information regarding the proper material and method for chinking logs. The logs had been chinked early in the construction, but the material they used initially did not hold. A representative of the Portland Cement Company traveled to Nehawka to advise the workers on the best method of chinking with cement. Nails were driven into the logs in order to provide the cement something on which to adhere. They had had difficulty getting the cement to chink the smooth edges of the logs. The chinking was soon accomplished, and within a few weeks, members of the Woman’s Club were ready to tidy up the log cabin and move their collection of library books into the new library building.

In preparation for the formal dedication of the library, the Nehawka Woman’s Club asked pioneer Nehawka families to write their family histories for a book to be placed in the new library. Several ads were placed in the Nehawka Enterprise requesting their stories. The club used these histories in order to write a pageant and a historical review of Nehawka and the surrounding area for the dedication ceremony on 30 September 1934. Although the dedication had scarcely been advertised, more than 500 people attended the celebration.