ORANGE — Wheeler Memorial Library hosted an open house on Saturday for the first time since 2019, allowing the Friends of the Orange Public Libraries a chance to make a case for needed renovations and answer questions from residents.

Wheeler Memorial Library typically hosts an open house every year to showcase its programs and to allow residents to meet members of the Friends group. However, until Saturday, the COVID-19 pandemic had put the open houses on hold.

The timing of Saturday’s open house comes after residents narrowly voted down a debt-exclusion override in November that would have authorized the town to borrow up to $10.4 million to supplement a $5.2 million state grant to renovate the library. Still, members of the Friends emphasize that this is not the end of the road for the project.

“We will keep pushing until we get the library that the town needs,” Sally Howe, a member of the Friends of the Orange Public Libraries, said at Saturday’s open house.

Library Director Jessica Magelaner explained that when renovation planning efforts began in 2016, the work was projected to cost approximately $9.9 million. With rising costs of construction, however, the project now has a price tag of $15.6 million.

With these prices, the $5.2 million grant awarded from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which was originally expected to cover half the total project cost, now covers one-third. The Friends group hopes to go back to the state and ask for $5 million more in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. Magelaner thinks the $10.4 million sought at November’s election was too high, but that residents might agree to borrowing $5 million.

“We have not given up on the renovations,” she said.

With borrowing denied, the library applied for and received an extension to its state grant deadline, which was set to expire on Jan. 9. The new deadline for Orange to match the funds is April 30.

“The plan for January is to try to connect with the new Healey-Driscoll team,” Magelaner said previously. “We’ll be meeting weekly with other directors to really push our case for the ARPA funding.”

In a November presentation, Magelaner explained the building has no dedicated staff space and one small bathroom near her office. The basement, where the children’s section is located, has extremely poor ventilation and relies almost entirely on ceiling fans and a dehumidifier. The building also has inadequate parking, a side entrance that leads to stairs with no Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility, and a front entrance that presents its own accessibility challenges for patrons.

Magelaner explained the downtown location of the library on East Main Street is key to its goal of servicing everyone. People are able to walk from downtown or school to get the free books and services the library offers. Some of the programs include a children’s reading challenge, knitting club, a newly launched writing group and two movie screenings per month.

“It has been successful in many towns,” Howe noted, referring to debt-exclusion override approvals in Deerfield and Shutesbury last year. She said many towns have taken their historic library buildings and renovated them to become multi-use, and Orange is capable of doing the same.

Howe went on to say that most New England towns have “evocative architecture,” especially in their town centers that often contain public and municipal buildings.

“These buildings are worth maintaining,” she said.

Because the Wheeler Memorial Library is not ADA-compliant, many events the library wishes to host cannot receive grant funding, leading library officials to host events at the Orange Public Libraries’ second branch, the Moore Leland Library on Athol Road. This library is not close to downtown, meaning attendees are less able to walk to the events.

Magelaner noted that with an aging population, library accessibility is even more necessary than ever. She drives books to Orange residents who cannot access the library through a home delivery system, but hopes one day that the building will be more accessible to visitors.

“We will take the library where people need the library for now,” Magelaner said.

Instead of renovations, a new building could be constructed — an alternative that is often cheaper than renovating historic buildings. The Wheeler Memorial Library, which opened to the public in 1914, was a gift to the town from Almira Wheeler Thompson in honor of her late husband, John W. Wheeler, a lifelong resident of Orange and president of the New Home Sewing Machine Co.

“It would be heartbreaking to leave the Wheeler,” Howe said, looking up at a portrait of John W. Wheeler that hangs over the fireplace in one of the building’s front rooms. “She needs a little help. She is not serving the community the way she was 100 years ago.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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