A golden library celebration

Posted 10/1/15

Fifty years ago, May 2, 1965 to be precise, Warwick Public Library was dedicated and an institution started that has become an integral part of the community. On Saturday that beginning was …

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A golden library celebration

Posted

Fifty years ago, May 2, 1965 to be precise, Warwick Public Library was dedicated and an institution started that has become an integral part of the community. On Saturday that beginning was celebrated with a series of events that included a reminiscence with Warwick Historian Henry Brown, a concert of sea shanties on banjo, dodhram and tin whistle by Michael Goddard and the cutting of two giant cakes, the work of students at the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, by Mayor Scott Avedisian.

Avedisian marveled at how the library has always been “a step ahead of what’s next” from its innovative programs, such as the ongoing series of James Woods movies, to online versions of books and its Idea Studio with 3D printer made possible with a grant from the Champlin Foundations. The mayor thanked those who have provided leadership to the library and made it “second to none in the state.”

The genesis of a city library – there were, and continue to be, neighborhood libraries – dates back to 1961 and the administration of the late Mayor Horace Hobbs. Hobbs supported a committee to explore the creation of a free central library and the following year the city acquired the 6.6-acre site the library now occupies on Sandy Lane.

At Saturday’s event, patrons enjoyed pizza, Yacht Club soda in addition to looking at some vintage 1965 cars courtesy of Jeff Goldstein and the first fire apparatus bought by the city after it went to a paid fire department. The engine is now in the care of the Greenwood Volunteer Fire Company.

And while many adults recalled the past and renewed acquaintances, kids found their favorite things in the library. That occurrence didn’t go unnoticed by the mayor.

“The best thing,” he said, “is to hear children who are never quiet in a library.”

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  • RonPaul

    Free for for the people on welfare.

    Wednesday, October 7, 2015 Report this