Legacy Amendment dollars will fund T.F. Library projects

The 158-year-old Taylors Falls Municipal Library is getting a facelift thanks to legacy amendment monies dedicated by citizens of Minnesota to support cultural and environmental causes. Taylors Falls City Council recently accepted a grant of $18,011 through a program administered by the state’s Historical Society. The grant will put a new wood shake roof on the library, replace a storm door, do soffits and windows and cover costs to scrape and re-paint the structure. Library Board President Barbara Anderson tells the Press the library board was ecstatic to have won the full amount of funding applied for last summer. She also thanked Taylors Falls Administrative staff member Adam Berklund for writing and submitting all the grant paperwork that landed the needed projects onto the competitive funding list. Projects will get underway in spring 2013. Under criteria of the Historic Preservation funding there will be a minimum of three bids solicited from area contractors. The improvements will meet all guidelines governing the historic appearance of the library building. Taylors Falls Library was originally the home and shop of tailor John Jacob Spengler. In 1887 the home was sold to the Library Association to be used as the town’s library. The front room where most of the library collection is housed, has a terrific barrel-vault ceiling and the interior woodwork welcomes visitors to relax and maybe even imagine a man of the 1800s being fitted for a new suit of clothes. The library is open Saturday and Wednesday. Diane Dedon is Taylors Falls’ librarian. It continues to be operated by the city and is not under the East Central Regional Library umbrella that covers the other four Chisago County libraries, in Chisago Lakes, North Branch, Wyoming and Rush City.