As the sun neared the mountaintops and the temperature cooled, a crowd gathered around the entrance to the Manitou Springs Carnegie Library for a grand re-opening ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 7.
The library was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by noted Colorado Springs architect Thomas MacLaren in 1910 and funded by a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, according to the City of Manitou Springs. The library opened in February of 1911.
“The library reopened with a 2,950 square foot addition which complements the 3,486 square foot historic library, designed to preserve its charm while meeting 21st-century library standards,” the City of Manitou Springs said in a statement. The renovation included accessibility upgrades and expanded space for community programs and preserved original elements such as light fixtures and brickwork.
Upwards of 100 community members – including Pikes Peak Library District staff plus board members past and present, and elected officials from the city, county and state levels – gathered for remarks on the library’s meaning and impact in Manitou Springs before cutting the ribbon and welcoming the crowds inside.
Manitou Springs Mayor John Graham addressed the crowd, speaking on the benefits of the library to the community in the past, present and future.
“Use it, protect it, maintain it, value it – make it last well into the next century,” he said. “Let it serve generations who will find this a place that fosters community, ignites curiosity and answers questions – and then makes a person ask more questions and seek more answers. Let it stimulate our learning and our pleasure; let it help develop our critical thinking and our citizenship. And let those who come after us sit in the shade of the trees we have planted.”
“This is your library,” said Manitou Springs City Administrator Denise Howell in her words to those gathered. “We want you to enjoy it.”
In celebration of the Manitou Library reopening
The Promise
BY JUDY CARNICK
Manitou greenstone walls surround and
Seep their history onto corkwood floors.
Floors that weep and seek feet
Tiny and large wandering the stacks
Of books, the racks of magazines
Seeking facts and flights of imagination.
Shoes of bound simple leather evolving,
Dissolving into sparkle sandals and worn tennis shoes.
Heels clicking and clacking around. Rubber soles, no sound.
They all flexed to stretch and reach shelves higher
Than the owners could reach themselves.
Echoes of voices young and old
That searched for bold stories held prisoner
In books unopened, yet to be told.
To gasp at, to giggle with, to cry over until finished.
Then wave good-bye and let the story fly.
Chairs large and small sit empty in teetering stacks
Against the wainscoted walls.
Racks sit empty of worn pages of facts.
The old tiny bathroom goes unused.
The narrow stairs are no longer abused
By handrail sliders and stomping kid-tigers.
The worn wooden counter is silent.
Where discussions and advice were
Handed out by librarians nice.
Where books were returned with fanfare
And proud looks saying, “I can read this.”
Where tears confessed to missing items
And monies paid to right those wrongs
Of overdue songs, poems and stories.
Our Library reached out to us for help.
It breathes life only when we are inside.
When doors and eyes are open wide
To young and old to make them wise.
Or make hearts stir with soft surprise.
Like the Phoenix, our Library will rise
And know again those myriad flocks of us
Seeking keys to unlock the mysteries of
Histories and futures for all of us that books touch.
To open our minds to the very old and very new.
Now, our Library will pave a bright future track for
The Manitou family.
The community that brought its Library back.
