Adams Selectmen Tour Free Library
 The Selectmen tour the Free Library after holding their workshop in the building last Wednesday. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen toured the library last week and heard a presentation on the building's history.
Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco had asked to hold the board's workshop at there so the Selectmen could tour the building and see the renovations. He wants to hold the twice-monthly workshops at different public buildings so the Selectmen can become more familiar with their functions.
He said he hopes by touring facilities with department heads, town officials will get a better handle on both achievements and issues in the town.
The Selectmen began their tour by listening to a presentation on the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall on the upper levels of the library by Historical Society member and Library Trustee Eugene Michalenko.
Michalenko said the post was named after George Sayles, who was the first man from Adams to die fighting in the Civil War. At the age of 21, Sayles was shot in the back of the head fighting near Roanoke, Va.
His portrait is displayed in the Memorial Hall.
Michalenko explained that the library itself was built to tackle two goals: to be a library and to create a memorial for the local Civil War soldiers. After Adams and North Adams had separated, Adams no longer had a memorial.
He said some people wanted the library to be built on Center Street but town meeting decided otherwise. Construction on the library began in 1897 and ended in 1899.
All the furniture in the hall is original, even a special chair that was donated with a plague for President William McKinley when he visited the library, although he did not get much use out of it.
"According to newspaper account the president took one look at it and walked away," Michalenko said. "He wanted to be seen as a man of the people and he wouldn't even sit in that chair."
The rest of the chairs in the hall are still standing from 1899.
"Anybody that comes in here, I tell them they are sitting in seats that Civil War veterans sat in so it is a special place to sit," he said.
Michalenko pointed above to show the library's ceiling, which is ornately decorated with scenes from some of the battles in the Civil War. He said he believed the paint was original, even though the rest of the room was not.
Library Director Deborah Bruneau said the room had to be repainted after it had turned into a "sauna."
 Prints of Civil War scenes were purchased by the Grand Army of the Republic post that used the Memorial Hall. |
"While I was In Florida ... during the night while I was gone a steam pipe … broke and turned this room into a sauna," Bruneau said. "The paint peeled off of the ceiling and off the walls and there was puddles and ponds all over the place."
Michalenko pointed out other artifacts in the hall, which include a bronze plague from the USS Maine, a giant battle flag that is believed to have flown on the USS Brooklyn, Civil War swords and guns, cannon balls, and a collection of milk bottles from almost every milk deliverer in Adams.
He added the Historical Society also has its office in the back of the Memorial Hall where the old Draft office used to be.
Bruneau then brought the Selectmen through the rest of the renovated building.
She explained that the basement is now code compliant, with emergency exits and handicapped bathrooms. She said hallways were built and more accommodating storage was made for the periodical storage room.
She then brought the Selectmen to the old basement that holds the new HVAC system and more original furniture that is broken. She said this is where McKinley laid the cornerstone.
"This is where all the original stuff is store…and this is where the corner stone was," she said. "They chiseled it out and you can buy a piece of it for $2.
Bruneau brought the Selectmen to the basement community room, which she said is used constantly. She pointed out prints on the wall of Civil War battle scenes
"All the prints that are on the wall were found in the basement and they were purchased by the GAR Post 426," she said. "They are as close to photographical accurate of battle scenes of the Civil War … I have been told by the sons of Yankee veterans that these are prints are amazing."
She also pointed out small doors that are a natural ventilation system that no one knows how to use.
"According to lore, one the custodians back in the '40s died of a heart attack, and the information on how to use it went with him," she said. "So we don't know how to do that now so we just keep them closed."
Bruneau brought the Selectmen to the main level of the library to the adult reading room, which used to be the children's room.
"This room was originally the reading room when the library opened in 1899, so we thought we would put it back that way," Bruneau said. "It's full constantly; we are really pleased with it."
She said the room is a real asset for the community because of the public computers on which patrons create resumes and print out pay stubs.
 Library Trustee Eugene Michalenko explains some of the original decorative elements of the hall's ceiling. |
Bruneau said the main room has been redone to look more historically accurate. She said the desk used to be in the back of the room and people had to ask for books because "librarians didn't like to let people in to our stats to mess them up."
She said the shelving and some of the furniture is original.
"When it was built they though it would be big enough to hold volumes of books for 50 years," she said. "Well that's when all the volumes were small and then the publishing world exploded … and now we were running out of room."
She ended the tour in the children's room in the Miller Annex and told the Selectmen how happy she is to be working in the building.
"I love being here when someone comes in the building for the first time," she said. "It's beautiful and we all love working here."
Mazzucco said in the future he would like to hold meetings at the Council on Aging and the DPW Garage.
Tags: adams library, historic buildings,
