Towanda Public Library Undertakes Capital Campaign to Fund Major Expansion

  

    Towanda Public Library has just embarked on its’ first expansion in over 50 years!  This project will result in a brand new Children’s Library and a spacious second floor meeting room in the former carriage house / kindergarten building located directly behind the library, up the hill on Maple Street.

                 The carriage house building has wonderful natural light and will add 2062 sq. feet of useable space when fully renovated. Originally a stable and later a carriage house for the Noble Betts home on Main St. (later the home and office of Dr. Tom Johnson and now the location of a Daily Review parking lot) the carriage house had several owners (including Carl Patterson) prior to being purchased by the Towanda School District.  It  served as a kindergarten for at least 30 years from the 1930’s to the 1960’s.  It was next owned for about twenty years by the Odd Fellows who used it primarily for storage.  During that time the building fell into disrepair.  When the Library purchased it in 2000, the building needed extensive renovations to make it useable year-round.

Repairs to the roof and heating system have been made in order to preserve the viability of the building.  Upgrades to the front entryway and the addition of a handicap accessible bathroom were accomplished over the past two years with Community Development Block Grant funds.  Architects Andy Harding and Joyce Seno with Larson Design were hired to draw up plans for the building.

Now the library trustees have agreed to undertake a full scale Capital Campaign to raise $300,000 in order to complete the entire building renovation.