Almost five years since reopening its doors to the public, the Whitefield Library has finished its major renovations. Now, the goal is to keep it running as a year-round facility.
In late October, the final renovations to the exterior library, located at 1 Arlington Lane in Whitefield, were completed. The western clapboards were scraped and sanded or replaced. Deteriorating window trim was replaced and rejuvenated with green paint.
According to Whitefield Library Board of Directors President Cheryle Joslyn, completing the exterior work was only one of many steps of renovation the library has taken since acquiring the almost 140-year-old building in 2019.
“We think that pretty much takes care of the renovation of the building,” Joslyn said.
Other than books, the Whitefield Library hosts numerous community events, such as reading groups and educational programs. It serves the communities of Whitefield, Somerville, Jefferson, Alna, Pittson, and Windsor for free. Joslyn said renovations allow for more space and opportunities, and that the library has changed tremendously since it opened full time in 2022.
There is not an exact date on when the building was constructed, but Joslyn said the estimate is around 1884, making it 137 years old. According to a Sun Journal article from that year, the building was intended to be used as a school, library, and gathering center. In 1889, other records show the building was used for women’s sewing groups and community dinners.
Starting in 1917 and for the next 102 years, the building was owned and operated by Whitefield Arlington Grange Post No. 528.
Flash-forward 100 years, in 2016, a 9-year-old attending Whitefield Elementary School wrote a letter to the Whitefield Select Board about how there wasn’t a library open in the summer. In his letter, Quinn Conroy said there were not many activities for children to do over the summer and that even when not in the class, they like to read.
“I think that we should have a public library in Whitefield because on summer vacation there is nothing to do other than take a two hour trip to the beach and kids like to read in the summer and grown-ups like reading to,” Conroy said in the letter.
Conroy also pushed for the space to have computers.
In response to the letter, Whitefield Select Board member Sue McKeen approached the school to see if the school library could be run by volunteers during the summer, but Joslyn said plans never materialized.
In 2017, the Arlington Grange allowed volunteers to create a summer library on the first floor of the building. The first election of officers for a building acquisition committee came around early the following year, with McKeen sworn in as president and Joslyn as vice president.
For two summers before moving into the building, Joslyn said a “summer library” was hosted on the main floor with a table full of donated books.
In July 2018, the Whitefield Library Association was granted a nonprofit 501(c)(3) designation. Throughout the year, the committee worked and created design concepts for the Grange building, later dissolving once the work was finished the nonprofit designation was given.
In September 2018, the Whitefield Library Association submitted an $8,000 bid to Maine State Grange for the purchase of the property. The first bid was denied, and a second one was later submitted for $25,000.
On Jan. 3, 2019, the Maine State Grange accepted the bid, which led to the committee tasked with the acquisition to begin fundraising efforts.
“We didn’t know how we were going to raise $25,000 to buy this building,” Joslyn said.
It was in March 2019 when Kennebec Saving Bank donated the total amount needed for the purchase to the library after getting wind of the committee’s efforts through a Kennebec Journal article by George Smith titled “There’s Nothing Like a Library.”
“We got a call from Kennebec Savings Bank and they said ‘We’d like to come out and meet with you,’” Joslyn said. “We thought they were coming out to make us a proposal for borrowing the money from their bank. They came out with a check for $25,000.”
Now with the building and no money left in their account, the committee started brainstorming ways to raise money to start renovations, Joslyn said. Throughout the rest of 2019, the library hosted fundraising efforts such as a dodgeball tournament, art nights, and other events. As work started to roll, the library continued to be operated in the summer, but the building was not ready for year-round use yet.
The first renovation done in the building once it was in the hands of the library association was the removal of a faulty furnace. For the next two years, the building went through a transformation.
In March 2020, as the library paused operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee kept on working, installing new heaters and adding additional support beams, among other tasks.
Joslyn referred to herself and the group of volunteers who did most of the work as “the geezers,” because they were all retired. She said the group was very fortunate to find so many craftsmen around the area to help.
Most of the money for renovations was raised through grants, according to Joslyn, including the Stephen and Tabitha King Grant Award. The David Family Foundation Award, and a Bangor Saving Grant Award.
“We renovated no more than what we had the money granted to us and it wasn’t all grants,” Joslyn said. “We had some very, very good donors from our community who stepped up with some big checks to help.”
In January 2022, the newly renovated Whitefield Library opened to the public. Only the first floor was complete at this point, with a new main room, office, hallway, storage closet, bathroom, and kitchenette.
At Whitefield’s annual town meeting in March 2023, $15,000 was approved to help fund the salaries of the library administrator and the children’s program coordinator, as well as an additional $10,000 for parking lot repairs.
In May 2023, the association received the building permit to begin second floor renovations. Joslyn said the library faced the problem of figuring out how to fund the project until a community member donated $200,000 while advocating for a larger children’s space.
According to Joslyn, many people stopped by when the association was working on the major renovations before opening. One of those people, Niki Janus, offered to fund the remaining renovations.
For the next three years, renovations continued. The second floor received the required permitting to host people in February 2025 and an appreciation celebration was held in September of that year.
With years of hard work, renovations, and hoops to jump through, the Whitefield Library is now a community center used for everything from checking out books, after-school programs, author visits, music groups, and more.
Even with the bigger projects done, Joslyn said the goal is to now prioritize preventative maintenance. She said she also would like to find a way to either install a chair lift or other accessibility tool to help get everyone upstairs.
“We’re thrilled to have such wonderful facilities,” Joslyn said.
For more information about the Whitefield Library, call 549-0170 or go to whitefieldlibrary.org.