Potwin Little Library
Have you heard of a Free Little Library?
It works a lot like “take a penny, leave a penny;” only with books.
The library board decided that our community should have a Free Little Library. I did some research and got excited about the possibility of being able have it built to match our unique building. I spoke to a local craftsman about how I wanted it to look, he sketched it out and then brought it to life.
We applied for and received a grant from South Central Kansas Library System, to help us with the building expenses. Wheatstate Technologies graciously agreed to allow us to place it on their property.
On May 18th, 2018, Jimmy Howell broke ground and laid the concrete foundation.
He began the hunt for the perfect limestone to match our building.
On June 28th, 2018 Jimmy started building the structure and planning the layout of the stone.
On June 14th, 2018, he had the inner concrete support finished and laid the limestone exterior.
He asked if he could create a carving for it.
This is what he created!
On July 21st, 2018, Jimmy placed his architectural carving, and mounted the stone cap. At the same time he did the tuck-pointing on the Potwin Public Library.
August 21st, 2018, Bill Lappan completed and installed the wooden insert.
We did have some frustrations with the way the wood handled the dampness and knew that we would have to make a few changes.
October 20th. 2018, I begin the repair to the insert to make it weather resistant. I am not a craftsman, and so it was trial and error and took a little longer than I wanted. However, I’m very thankful that I had the opportunity to help in making it become a reality.
November 16, 2018, the books were added!
I hope you love it as much as I do and visit it often.
If you go to the Little Free Library website, you will find us located on the map! https://littlefreelibrary.org/
This project was funded in part by the South Central Kansas Library System. SCKLS serves 144 participating public libraries, school districts, academic libraries and special libraries in twelve counties. The mission of the South Central Kansas Library System is to assist member libraries to provide excellent service to their communities.
~Tonya