One decade ago the Washington Public Library moved to the square. Librarian LeAnn Kunz shares the story of how the library moved from 120 East Main Street to its current location. She said in the early 2000s the library’s foundation bought two buildings on the square and donated them to the city to be renovated into a new library, “Unfortunately, after some evaluations the buildings were found to be unfit for use and they had to be demolished. And we turned the corner at that point and decided to hire OPN architects and they started plans to make a new library in that spot with a lot of community input through several charrettes, and a lot of meetings, and so forth for people to have their say. And at the time we came up with the logo, ‘Heritage, heart, and hope.’ With the idea that we were going to take a piece of our heritage at the old 120 East Main, locate it in the heart of our community on the square, in the hope of a bright future for our downtown.”

The $5.1 million project was funded in part by donations, grants, and the passing of a bond measure on the ballot in 2007. Construction began in 2008, books were moved from one building to the current home by volunteers in a single day, and the new library officially opened October 1st, 2009.

The library is celebrating the 10-year mark of the building this month with a variety of events, including an Alive After 5 with the Washington Chamber of Commerce on October 17th at 5 p.m. The community is invited to attend the Alive After 5, speakers will include previous library directors Patrick Finney and Debbie Stanton.