Edgartown School students joined town and library officials Monday to celebrate the first visible marker of Edgartown’s new library: a sign announcing the beginning of the project.
A group of students from kindergarten, first grade and third grade at the school posed for a picture in front of a sign that says: “Watch your new library being built here.” The sign is in front of the old brick Edgartown School, which will be demolished this summer to make way for the new library.
In a widening rift between Edgartown leaders and the nonprofit Edgartown Library Foundation, the town library trustees voted Tuesday to ask the fou
Edgartown selectmen and members of the Edgartown Library Foundation sparred Monday over whether the nonprofit organization would turn over money for the town’s new library project, with selectmen criticizing the organization for a lack of transparency and withholding the money, while foundation members said they had concerns about the project’s completion and wanted naming opportunities for the new library.
A new Edgartown Public Library, approved by town voters and hinging on state funding, took a giant leap toward reality Thursday.
Edgartown was awarded a $5 million grant Thursday from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, one of eight towns to receive $41.8 million in construction grants from the state.
In 1904, Edgartown received a gift from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie: $4,000 for a town library, one of more than 1,600 libraries the steel magnate bankrolled nationwide. The brick building on North Water street — the property was deeded to the town by resident Caroline F. Warren — was the smallest Carnegie library built in Massachusetts, and as part of the agreement with Mr. Carnegie, Edgartown agreed to spend one-tenth of the gift price on library operations. In 1904, Edgartown’s library spending jumped from $129 to $400 a year.
The board of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust has voted to explore the acquisition of the building that now houses the Edgartown library.
By SARA BROWN
The board of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust has voted to explore the acquisition of the building that now houses the Edgartown library.
Chris Scott, executive director of the preservation trust, said the board voted unanimously at its meeting Friday, Dec. 9, to accept the library design committee’s invitation to play a role in deciding the fate of the library, a historic building that was financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.