(rshsdepot) Marion, KS

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Link:
http://www.marionks.com/citylibrary/  (info & pictures)


Town turns depot into public library

Community's efforts bring in $152,000 to transform abandoned train station

The Associated Press

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Marion - The dilapidated old train station in this central Kansas community
has been rebuilt, refurbished and reopened - as the public library.

Capped by a dedication ceremony Sunday night, the conversion project drew on
the efforts of the local preservation committee, the fund-raising ability of
the town librarian and the hard work of many of Marion's 2,100 residents.

"It was a lot of small amounts of money and a lot of people working," city
administrator Dennis Nichols said.

Until recently, the 90-year-old Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe depot had
seemed destined for demolition. Abandoned long before the railroad ceased
operation in the early 1990s, the building had bad floors, cracked walls and
no windows.

A group called the Save the Depot Committee deemed the building worthy of
rescue, however, and approached the library board about using it.

"We took one look at the shape the depot was in and said, 'No way,"'
librarian Janet Marlar said.

Still, the library itself had pressing needs.

Founded 100 years ago, the library had long outgrown the building it had
occupied since 1938. Patrons could barely make their way through the crowded
aisles, technology access was limited, and there was no space to update
video, audio, computers and technology.

The depot offered double the space, and a consulting architect pronounced it
structurally sound. The library board decided to go for it.

A $726,000 state grant covered 80 percent of the cost, leaving the small
community to raise $152,000 for the work.

"We had soup suppers, T-shirt sales, cookbooks, engraved bricks, Christmas
ornaments, Mexican meals and donations. Anything that came along," Marlar
said.

Construction began in November 2001 and included restoring windows, woodwork
and whatever could be kept. New floors, walls, carpet, furniture and a
parking lot completed the project.

Inside, three more computers were installed, and an old waiting room was
converted into a reading area.

"It's a new building, but it still has the old look," Marlar said.

The collection was moved from the old library in two stages. On one day, 250
library patrons of all ages lined up along the seven blocks between the two
buildings and transferred 1,000 in an hour, bucket-brigade style. The rest
of the books were boxed and moved by a crew of 30 men with pickup trucks and
trailers.

"I thought when we automated that was quite a feat, but this has been
enjoyable, exciting," Marlar said of the move.

  Bernie Wagenblast
  Transportation Communications Newsletter
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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