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In Celebration of a Milestone: The Bixby Memorial Library Approaches the Century Mark

Entering the 100 year mark, the Bixby Memorial Library continues to delight all ages.
photo by Cookie Steponaitis
Entering the 100 year mark, the Bixby Memorial Library continues to delight all ages.

Tuesday October 5, 2010

By Cookie Steponaitis

    In the address delivered by Dr. John M. Thomas, president of Middlebury College on a crisp autumn morning October 1, 1912, he predicted “…books, from this library (Bixby) would reach people from the lake shore to the mountains as far north and south.” With 3,000 books in its collection, Bixby Memorial Library opened its doors and turned a corner in local history.

    Set to enter 2011-2012 and the 100th anniversary of its construction and opening, the Bixby continues to change, invite and anchor its place not only as a library, but as a source of some of the best collections of Vermontiana, Native American artifacts and local historic pieces. Funded by a bequeathal form William Gove Bixby, the Bixby Library replaced two prior existing library collections in Vergennes, none of which had operated from a permanent base.

    The earliest known libraries in the Little City were the social library and the Agricultural Library. These collections began somewhere around 1865. A group of women in the area purchased several hundred volumes and established the Vergennes Circulating Library. It was then followed by the Vergennes City Library which opened in 1876 and closed in 1912.

    Built on the Main Street site which used to be the Lennox Hotel, the cornerstone of the library was laid in September, 1911. Present that day was Mrs. Ella Warner Fisher who captured the event in a poem. In part she wrote:


Fit spot for a temple of knowledge.

On this beautiful sloping lawn;

With its great trees whispering overhead

And its entrance facing the dawn.

Where many feet may go in and foot.

The weary, the stated, the old;

The eager boys & girls who seek

For the aid of its shelves will hold

Even when subtle changes come

And time erases our memories

The beautiful hall will still be here.

A blessing to mankind

In whose treasures every passer-by a helpfulness may find.

    Flash forward almost 100 years to another October day and it is easy to understand how the Bixby Library continues to delight, enchant and entice visitors and patrons of all ages.Entering past the double oak doors and gazing at the stained glass dome above, the library is buzzing with activity. The children’s room has story hour, teens use the computers and a host of visitors simply stare amazed and click photos, as the locals browse the stacks for new reading material. On the second floor in the history room a local teacher is immersed in the diaries of early Vergennes citizens and gazes at photographs of Vergennes and the county over the last century. Downstairs in the basement, people browse the book sale for great finds. It is a typical Saturday and the community is out and at the Bixby.

    As the “Grand Lady” of Main Street sits poised to enter two years of festivities, fundraising and celebrations, the Valley Voice encourages its readers and visitors to explore the building, collections and grounds of the local landmark and architectural gem. While technology has changed the times, libraries are unique in that they have access to books, CD’s, DVD’s the Web, books in print, historic artifacts and personal service in finding things. Not only do libraries invite an exchange of ideas, belief and histories, it is important to remember their role in a free society. As Lady Bird Johnson commented, “Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as a the public library. The only entrance requirement is interest.”

    Professor Walter E. Howard remarked on September 21, 1911 at the laying of the cornerstone of the building, “How far that little candle sends its beams.” Nearly 100 and still lighting the way, the Valley Voice salutes the Bixby and all those who work to keep the building vital and a part of life in Addison County.

 


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