Groundbreaking Held for New Walker Public Library

After 15 years in the making, the process of the establishing a new Walker Public Library is finally moving forward. Community members and administrators gathered Tuesday as they broke ground at a ceremony for their new building.

Walker’s library has been in search of a forever home – until recently.

“The city council negotiated with Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, the school board there to get this piece of property back to them,” said Kathi Cadmus, president of the Friends of the Walker Public Library.

“Genuinely, the majority of community members … [have] made calls or emails or [showed] up to public meetings saying that, ‘This is what we want. Where are we at? Where is the new library?'” said Walker city administrator Hope Fairchild. “It made sense to just move forward and keep going.”

“In the process of doing all this, we started fundraising. We got the donations from Dale and Harriet Jones, which really, like I said, that kickstarted us and enabled us to see that we could actually achieve the goal,” added Cadmus.

The Joneses have generously donated $1 million of the $2.2 million donated, and thanks to their donation, the library will be named after them.

The library has been a place close to the heart for many community members. To some, it’s just a place to read, but for others it’s a safe place.

“Being in a rental space does not give the library its full potential,” said Fairchild. “The community is really tight-knit and they care for their children. They care for the elderly. They want this space for people to come, to learn, to meet.”

While hitting this milestone, the Dale and Harriet Jones Walker Public Library does not have a set time for a completion date. But they are still looking for donations to help expedite the process even further, where organizers are in search of $700,000 for their new facility.