A Road Runs Through It

While work continues on finishing the exterior siding, construction has also begun on the new roadway that will lead from Main Street to the front of the library. The "Annex" parking lot where the construction trailers had been located is gone (the trailers are now down within the work site).

First photo shows the Main Street entrance. Next is the sweeping approach to the main library entrance.

Recent shots from the river side show the building is really shaping up.

Did anyone notice how cool it looked the other night when the interior lights were inadvertantly left on after the construction workers left for the day? Unfortunately we did not have the camera at hand that night to record the impressive sight.

And now- the views!

Looking out of the prow window you can see across the stone bridge to the Mill Pond. In the other direction you will see the lower end of the River Walk and a good way downriver. The old Dye House (behind the stack of blue insulation board) is scheduled to be demolished. A grassy park area will replace it.
















The Childrens' Program Room windows will overlook the entrance road coming in from Main Street. The Administrative wing is visible below toward the right with a large planting bed in front of its windows







Below- looking out the side window of the "Reading Nook" area of the main children's room

Another "inside" look

On May 9 The Building Committee was given a tour of the project and the library staff was invited along to get a feel for their future work space.

Here staff are standing in the "Local History Room" as viewed from the middle of the main shelving area- only the outlines of rooms on the lower floor have been laid out. Partitions go up soon. The main windows look out onto East Avenue.


Upstairs in the Children's Wing, steel partitions are up. This view shows the
entrance to the kids' bathrooms with the pre-school collection area to the left.




This shot is looking toward the "prow" where a cozy window seat will allow children & parents to enjoy the view while reading together.

See the floor plans (link on the library's home page) to get a better idea of what these photos depict.

By May 4 the front entrance is closed in and masonry finishes have been completed. The large window above the entrance is the Children's Program Room.


Cedar shingles are being applied to some areas and masonry block has been applied in others. The building is designed to have a variety of exterior finishes reflecting the hodgepodge of finishes that appeared as the former mills expanded over time. Note that some of the windows have been installed!













Inside, more concrete has been poured for floors and steel partitions are going up.

A week or so later-

The masonry block and clapboard siding has been finished on the end of the "Stack Room" and they're working along the side

Much of the river side has been closed in. Blue & yellow insulation board covers the "prow" jutting out from the Children's wing - the views from the "reading nook" located in this overhang will be spectacular!

Catching up. . .

Sorry that we've fallen so far behind in posting to the blog! Hope everyone has been viewing the weekly site reports to keep up-to-date.

On March 23 I was able to visit the site and see some of the progress close-up.

The view of the front of the library is a bit hard to see from behind the fence so here's what the approach looked like a few weeks ago. The next shot is the main entrance with just the steel in place.

The wood trusses and plank ceiling of the main stack room look great from inside! The "floor" looking toward the staircase and elevator is not so great- just mud and dirt at this point.

Finally, here's the almost finished retaining wall below the restaurant as viewed from the walkway outside the library staff entrance,