In a little over a week, My husband and I will travel to my hometown for Christmas with my extended family. This post is not about Christmas, it’s about childhood memories. But not memories of Christmas, memories of summers spent on the grassy banks of Yellow Creek.
Our little village had a population of about 3,000 people in the 1960s and 1970s and we had no permanent library. From my recollection, the temporary library was housed on the second floor of the Fire Station. Then it moved to the second floor of the village government offices. That stately building was a civil war era building that was a stop on the underground railroad. Its history was awe-inspiring. Then the temporary library moved back to the Fire Station until a utilitarian building was built specifically for the library.
The village library was built on the banks of Yellow Creek across the street from the civil war era building. During the summer, I loved to ride my bike to the new library. I’d check out my favorite books and sat on those grassy banks and listened to the soft sounds of summer while reading Nancy Drew or some other mystery that caught my attention.
The village and surrounding township that used the library grew exponentially that the original 1960s building was torn down to make way for a new and beautiful library that was more fitting for the architecture of the area. The original 4.600 square foot building was transformed into a whopping 35,000 plus square foot building that sits in the same location as the original building.
Because of its size and location, the banks of Yellow Creek overflowed several times and flooded the basement of the new building. They built a retaining wall to minimize future flooding. Anyone wishing to sit on the banks of Yellow Creek to read, no longer can sit where I sat as a child but there is another area further downstream that the library has for people to read. There are even benches which is an added bonus.
The new building is gorgeous and I love to go there when I visit.
Today, I read books on my mini-Ipad with the lighted back screen. The battery runs out and it has to be charged, but I can download as many books as I want to read without the bulkiness of actual books. And, there’s no dogeared pages or fun bookmarks, but it works for me today.
Everything is different but I’ll always have my childhood memories.
What childhood memories of books and reading flood your mind?
Photos courtesy of Poland Historical Society