FINALLY!

We opened the entire library on Friday October 19th for the open house. We tagged along as part of the merchants 3rd Friday celebration and the Museum's halloween night. Over 370 people walked thru during the 3 hours. Anna Popovich told stories in the attic

Down on the ground floor we were entertained by the music of Kim and Andy Kilburn.

Desserts were prepared by staff and an owl planter was given away as a door prize to Stevie Hirsch.

Please drop in and see all the changes. Local History collections are on the 2nd floor and the magazine browsing area will soon be housed on the 1st floor. Areas have opened up for small group meetings and comfy chairs will arrive for quiet reading and even a quick nap.

Thanks to Tom Clifton from B&T for his herculean efforts to bring this project to a close.

Just a few pictures to entice you to visit.

Getting down to the wire

Two more inspections to go and we should be moving furniture, offices and more with the use of an elevator!

Painting is done except for touch ups,

railing moved into place

Windows stained, caulked and sealed.

Areas in the Bacon house have been emptied and cleaned for new purposes.

Side hall "carriage" door

Simmons Room--The Friends of the Library Reading Room

What used to be outdoors is now an interior wall!

The temporary ramp has been removed and grass is poking through in the newly seeded spots.

OPEN HOUSE OCT 19 as part of Wyandotte's 3rd Friday events. Both buildings will be open from 5:30 to 8:30 PM. A family storytime in the attic at 7PM and music in the Library from 7 to 8PM. REFRESHMENTS!!!

Finishing touches

It's been a long haul, but we are now looking at the LAST WEEK (weather permitting) of work on the elevator construction.

All the floor tile is in.

The painters are priming and applying first coats of paint to the walls and ceilings and staining the new woodwork.

We hope to have stair railing and treads in on Wednesday.

Thursday we plan to have some cement replaced out front and the Tattrie bench reinstalled on Friday.

Final elevator inspection on Friday if all goes as planned!

The demolition of the Wyandotte Theatre is almost complete...

One woman said she was picking up some bricks for a memory lane table at a class reunion!

I'm told daily we are in the home stretch. I hope so! The outside is looking neater as dirt begins to swept up and leveled. All the windows are in.

99.9% of the drywall is ready!

Painter is to start tomorrow!

Carpeting in on Thursday--keeping my fingers crossed.

Once painting and flooring done I'll add photos.

We are ready to move offices soon and then start on relocating the Local History rooms.

It's exciting.

We will be intermittently closed between now and Sept 8.

We'll have a sign on the doors when we have to close. Painting and new flooring have to get done and access to the restrooms will be closed off. Sorry for the inconvenience!

We will be closed for the Labor Day weekend on Saturday through Monday.

Interior Progress

Luckily the rainy days did not stop the interior work.

We have doors on the elevator.

Drywall is going up on the walls and ceiling

and windows are being installed

A rooftop summit was held to closely look at the roof edging. Even Bob "the builder" took part and actually lent a hand!
We are preparing existing areas of
the house for public use with sanding and staining
of 2 original pine floors on the 2nd floor.

We are eagerly looking forward

to reorganizing collections and moving offices.

We hope to have an

unveiling/open house

in October or November.

Rain didn't stop masons for long!

Lots of workers in this week with elevator installers, electricians, carpenters and the masons.

The storms moving in and out didn't stop work for long.

Corner blocks to be cut

These blocks are being inserted to give the new wall the look of the 1897 corner of the Ford-Bacon house.

The elevator floor was installed and it is able to travel from the ground floor up to the 3rd floor level as the workers add on all the needed pieces.

The electricians have been busy cutting and bending conduit, pulling wires and installing boxes.

Besides the flurry of work there has been a buzz about Harry Potter--who saw the movie last weekend and the book release late tonight. Our copies arrived and were placed in the vault and the audio just arrived. These will be processed early Saturday and available to the avid readers.

Looking back on your childhood, who was your "Harry Potter"? I greatly enjoyed the Eager magic books, Bobbsey Twins and Hardy Boys! of course the Boys and Twins books weren't found in the library as mass market series weren't deemed serious literature for a library!

We'd be interested to hear from you on your childhood favorites, please respond using the blog comments section. To find what others liked you might want to check out the New York Times site for responses to that question.

What a week!

Color choices for wall, ceilings, exterior sills and a small area to be covered with shakes.

It looks like a usable space almost!

Sometimes through the process we have all thought Now What?

Tom and Graham seem perplexed.
The carpenter keeps working on the ceiling and soffit areas

The guys from Schindler Elevator arrived and began opening their boxes and setting up scaffolding in the elevator shaft.

At least 2 weeks to get it installed. Electricians will be back next week, and the brick work should be complete.

Lots of progress this week between our annual sidewalk chalk art program on Tuesday and the start of the Street Art Fair on Wednesday. Visit the fair's site at http://www.wyandottestreetartfair.org/

and see the difference from this pix of sidewalk sale day in 1960

Workers everywhere.

Today we had roofers, carpenters, mason, electrictians, superviser and architect all working at one time.Fresh mortar piled on for the rising walls.

This is not a doorway, just the opening for ground floor window. Electricians began wiring for elevator shaft and mechanical room.

A view of the 3rd floor landing and just a peek at the enclosed 2nd floor area.

We expect elevator installation to begin middle of next week.
Don't forget the Wyandotte Steet Art Fair begins July 11 and runs through Saturday July14
I remember when the Street event was just sidewalk sales for the merchants and my parents probably could have identified people in this photo from the Library's collection.

Biddle Ave circa 1964

Brick by brick

Yesterday 2 rounds of thunderstorms wiped out the work day. It was more of a wipe up day.

Temperatures lower today and work resumed. The brickwork on Vinewood rises

I was able to climb out on the scaffolding at the 2nd floor level as Tom showed me the wire "locks" used every 6 rows to attach brick to cinder block!

The carpenters are busy on the roofline and placing aluminum studs for interior walls.

Masons are cleaning up debris on lawn and neatly piling materials for the Fireworks on Friday night.

If you are down for the Parade on the 4th, look up as you pass to see the structure in person.

What stories the house could tell of parades gone by. Many people return to the same location to view the parade each year and we have always been a favorite spot because of our shade.

If you have a parade or fireworks story to tell leave a comment on this blog.

Slowly coming together

This week carpentry began for the roof lines.

Steps were prepared and poured.

Best of all, the exterior brick arrived and the masons returned to start the courses. One window area has the keystone and arch laid.

As we proceed with new construction, unfortunately the old Wyandotte Theatre is almost at going, going, gone status!

Other movie houses in town were the Majestic and the Rialto. Perhaps you remember seeing the Saturday serials or getting a free piece of glassware at one of the shows. We'd be glad to hear your stories. You can comment on the blog or send an email to jcashin@baconlibrary.org

Thanks for the memories...

Photos are from the historic photos collection at Bacon Library. More photos of Wyandotte's past can be viewed from our website www.baconlibrary.org