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Landmark building gets a facelift
By Steve Moyer
Nevada Daily Mail
It has been a landmark in Nevada for nearly a hundred years and now the former Nevada Public Library building on the corner of Ash and Austin is being remodeled to meet the standards of the 21st century. An addition on the south side of the building will house the entrance and an elevator, making access to both floors of the building easier.
Owner Greg Hoffman hired an architectural firm, Zingre and Associates, Fort Scott, Kan., which has produced a design that incorporates elements of the same style as the original building to produce an addition that joins the old seamlessly. Hoffman will move his business, LPL Financial Services, into the upper floor and will offer space in the lower floor to community organizations like the Nevada Vernon County Chamber of Commerce.
Kathi Wysong, chamber director, said nothing is definite until the board of directors confirms it, but should the chamber move into the building, she has some ideas about the space.
"It will be very beneficial," Wysong said. "We're looking at it with a whole different outlook rather than as just a chamber office, it would make a great community development center."
With the additional space the chamber could provide more services in the new location. "The concept is a fabulous one," Wysong said. "Our intent is to offer the same services we do here but expanded."
One of the expanded services the chamber might provide is a space for a new business to use while setting up.
"We always have to look at new ways of doing business," Wysong said. "One thing we've thought of is an incubator office. We would offer space to a new business with a short-term lease or even on a month-to-month basis and offer our services, fax, DSL connection and so on to them while they get set up."
Wysong said the chamber had been looking at getting the building status as an historic site.
"We've been working with the owner to see about registering the building with the National Registry of Historic Sites," Wysong said. "There are many Carnegie Buildings in Kansas that have been placed on the Registry so there is precedent for it. I think the Carnegie Foundation would be very proud of this building."
Former library director Marlene Hizer reminded this reporter of the camaraderie inspired by the quirks of the heating system in the old library.
"Remember when you were providing computer technical services and we would go to the boiler room in the winter to get warm?" Hizer said. "We spent a lot of time there."
Hizer said she is happy to see the building get a good owner. "We were really glad to see Greg get the building and renovate it," Hizer said. "We're especially happy to see that it is being restored in a manner that will keep its historic value intact.
For Hizer events and people associated with the building are her strongest memories. "Some of my memories of the Carnegie building are Halloween mazes, monthly trips to the never-ending ladder to check the roof and chimney and coming down to the boiler room," Hizer said. "Most of all, however, I remember the faces of loyal friends of the library -- both young and old. Who can forget the participants and fearless leaders of the great turtle races, Santa's visits, Easter egg hunts, kids' cookoffs and the summer reading programs? We almost had some knock-down drag-outs in our 'Let's Talk About It' book discussion groups; they are some of my fondest memories. I think Mr. Carnegie would have gotten a kick out of them too. It was a pleasure to serve in his generous gift to our community."
Former youth librarian Nettie Rummel, who worked in the old library under Hizer, also had fond memories of the building. "The front of the building was what I always think of, you see that and you just knew it was the library," Rummel said.