On Tuesday, Dec. 19, our City Council voted unanimously (three times!) to sign contracts on behalf of Manitou’s beloved Carnegie Library.
With the hiring of the architect, construction company and owner’s representative, the final pieces are in place for the expansion and ADA-compliance of the Manitou Springs Carnegie Library! It’s a true Christmas miracle!
That may seem facetious, but if you haven’t been following this multi-decade saga, you may not be aware of how long supporters of our little Carnegie have been working to make this happen.
Kudos to city staff (especially City Administrator Denise Howell and her team) and the current City Council for getting this project across the finish line. It was no mean feat.
A (somewhat) brief history lesson: the library’s challenges have been evident for decades. Grandfathered in for the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Carnegie has never been accessible to those who utilize wheelchairs.
Even if you could get up the hill, you couldn’t access either floor of the library. The occupancy limit when the library opened in 1910 was 19 people. While the town quadrupled in population, the occupancy limit didn’t increase — and how could it? The library simply had grown too small for our town.
In the late 1990s, library volunteers and the Friends of the Library board began to raise money in earnest to fund an expansion of the city-owned building. When Joe and Diane Fabeck revived the FOL board in 2002, it was to establish expansion and ADA compliance as the friends board’s very specific mission.
As of 2015, two sets of capital campaigns and architectural plans had been presented to and approved by City Council. And though the efforts were well received, the financial support was never quite enough to bring expansion to fruition. The Carnegie Library project languished in limbo.
In 2020, the Save and Preserve Our Carnegie Library task force was formed. A citizen-led, community-supported group, the task force came into existence for the sole purpose of making one more attempt to expand the Carnegie and make it accessible to everyone.
With the formation of the Manitou Arts, Culture, and Heritage fund, which earmarks money for five of the city’s historic structures, we had a very solid chance of making the dream a reality.
Over the next three years — in the midst of a pandemic — the task force remained committed to the goal.
Through meetings, town hall video conferences, one-on-one conversations, fact-finding missions, an advocacy campaign and many, many City Council sessions, the task force disseminated information, passionately advocated, gathered feedback from citizens and collaborated with city staff and RATIO Architects to develop an architectural plan that would create a library for the next 100 years.
Any project that carries a high price tag is open to criticism and scrutiny. The process from the beginning has been messy, uncertain and, at times, even combative.
We are finally there!
The fact that we stand ready to break ground and realize a decades-long dream is nothing short of a miracle. There are so many people, organizations and entities to thank for making this happen. And I hope that we get the chance to recognize them all for their support, passion and commitment to our sweet little Carnegie library.
But I want to specifically shout out to Denise and team, Pikes Peak Library District, the Preserve and Renew Our Carnegie Library task force, the citizen-led Save Our Carnegie fundraising committee and City Council.
Because of their expertise, determination and belief, the library project is 100 percent funded. After more than 20 years of effort, we are finally there!
I am relieved. I am grateful. I am excited!
This community will have the library it deserves — one that will serve everyone, honoring diversity, equity and inclusion. It will truly be, (once again) as Mayor John Graham has observed, “Manitou’s living room.”
It will be (once again) our town square, our gathering place, our community center, our Third Space, benefiting all age groups, needs, abilities and demographics. Far more than just books, it will be alive with creativity, community, resources and collaboration. It will truly be the heart of Manitou.
Laura Ettinger-Harwell is the Bulletin board of directors secretary.