By Jennifer Tangeman
Library project running slightly behind
n Library project running slightly behind.
By Jennifer Tangeman
Pharos-Tribune
Logansport Cass County Public Library director David Ivey led library trustees on a tour of the building’s renovations Tuesday.
Ivey said while there had been minor setbacks in recent weeks, the $800,000 project is under way and more or less on schedule.
Crews from Commercial Contracting Inc. of Fort Wayne have removed old shelving in the library and are working to install steel structures to support the building.
“We are a couple weeks behind where we wanted to be,” Ivey said. “As we’ve notched out pockets for the steel support structures we’ve found constant adjustments and had to move the beams.”
Ivey said the setbacks were not rare, particularly in a building as old as the library.
Contractors are experiencing another minor setback with carpeting on the second floor. As they remove the carpet, old tiles are coming off in pieces. Ivey said the workers had hoped to pull the carpet and replace new carpet on top of the tiles.
Now that the tiles are coming off, they are realizing they need to have asbestos crews remove them.
The library’s age has provided a neat aspect to the renovation work, though, Ivey said.
Ivey reported last month that removing the existing shelving had revealed some of the library’s history. Portions of the first-floor ceiling and walls revealed burnt and charred structure from a 1941 fire. Some of the building's original paint has also been revealed.
Recently, construction crews unveiled a message written on a beam from the World War II era.
Workers signed the beam on the library’s first floor in 1942 and wrote a message stating that during their job Americans were at war with the Germans. The construction crews also included a few expletives describing their wartime enemies.
“We told the contractors now they had to figure out what they were going to write,” Ivey said. “As long as it’s in an area that will be covered up, of course.”
Final construction work will remove the main staircase at the entryway of the building. Other interior changes include a new computer lab upstairs, new carpet upstairs and restrooms on the second floor.
Exterior design plans call for a parking lot, an outdoor seating area, a shelter and shade canopy, a limestone sign, a security camera and a new bike rack. Outdoor work should begin this spring.
• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.
