Gordonsville Library construction begins

"I can hardly believe it's actually happening," Gordonsville Friends of the Library President Barbara Drinkwater said Tuesday morning as county and town officials, library friends, patrons, and supporters gathered on Main Street for a groundbreaking ceremony.
And it is actually happening-the community rallied to raise nearly $300,000 for a new, larger space for the Gordonsville branch of the Orange County Library.
The new accomodations would provide greater space for the 18,000 items which are currently in the 1,000-square-foot library, just up the street in Gordonsville's old town hall. And in that charming-but Lilliputian-old building, library materials are stuffed, squished and packed into shelves. An additional 5,000 library items have been relegated to storage, waiting to be brought back into circulation when there's room in the stacks.
In 2008, the Orange County Board of Supervisors announced that final design concepts had been selected for a new library building at the former Catholic Church at the corner of Main and Baker Streets in Gordonsville. When the announcement was made, county officials added there were two design options from which the board could choose: A 5,100-square-foot renovation of the former church and building addition which the board is prepared to pay for; or a larger, more expensive 6,167 square-foot renovation.
The county budget didn't include funds for the difference between the smaller and the larger options, so supervisors said financial support for the 6,167-square-foot option would have to be generated from within the community. Early last summer, Gordonsville Friends of the Library, Orange Friends of the library and friends of the Friends (including local residents and businesses, and various boards and foundations), embarked on a lightning fast-paced campaign to come up with the $300,000 needed for the project.
For months after the challenge was issued by county officials, book sales, an ice cream social, raffles and other events helped bring in donations. And steadily, the red mark on the dollars-raised thermometer outside the former Catholic Church rose toward the goal.
Now, just about a year after the challenge began, it's time to celebrate.
"This is a great day for Gordonsville, and the surrounding area, and for Orange County," District 1 Supervisor Mark Johnson said at the Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony.
Orange County Director of Public Works Kurt Hildebrand said the bid-winning contractor on the library project has set a March 2010 date for completion.