The Toledo Community Library is on Cowlitz Street in downtown Toledo.
What was once Toledo’s only pharmacy is about to look a lot different, and it’s about to serve the community in an entirely different way.
The building at 241 Cowlitz St. is owned by Pat and Bill Caldwell, who operated the pharmacy for years before shutting it down nearly five years ago. Now it’s on the cusp of becoming Toledo’s community library, through donations from the public and an agreement with the Timberland Regional Library System.
Toledo residents figured if they couldn’t get a full-service library, they may as well figure out a way to do the next-best thing. Timberland officials signed a lease with the Caldwells to put a kiosk for a computer connected to the library system in the building.
It’s a leap of faith for the Caldwells, who have seen their building sit empty for some time, but are excited to see the possibility of people once making it into a community center of sorts again. The Caldwells have paid for $1,500 of work done to the building so far, and have pledged to keep the building open for awhile.
“We want to try this and see if Timberland is interested in it being a full-service library, and also to see how a library goes,” Caldwell said. “If we can meet expenses for lighting, heating and everything else, we’ll carry it for a year.”
Toledo residents voted in late 2013 by a nearly two to one margin to annex into the Timberland Regional Library System, meaning they there could get library cards and, at the very least, take advantage of online services the system offers.
But there was one thing missing: a library of some sort in the town itself.
Proponents of a full-service library in Toledo were disheartened earlier this year when Timberland’s board of directors voted to grant a kiosk rather than a library to the town. Officials at a meeting in Tumwater cited Toledo’s relatively close distance to an already operational library in Winlock, even though Toledo city officials and residents explained during the meeting the Caldwells had offered to donate their building for the effort.
Immediately after that meeting, several Toledoans expressed concern the Caldwells could very well put the building up for sale — but during the Vision:Toledo Big Community Meeting in March, wheels started turning on the community library idea.
Pat Caldwell said volunteers have begun to provide a much-needed overhaul the building’s interior, tearing out the old walls since there was no insulation. Laborers are putting in new wiring and outlets, and a family has volunteered to put up Sheetrock walls. Travers Electric will change the lighting in the building to be more energy efficient, and volunteers will also help install new carpet.
The community could get its first glimpse at the revamped building July 10, which could also include a coffee shop along with a healthy supply of books donated by the community — 20 boxes so far, according to Pat Caldwell.
“We’re really hoping to have something up by Cheese Days,” Caldwell said. “I’m not thinking we’re going to be fully operational, but we at least want to have something people can look at.”
Friends of the Toledo Library, a community group whose main mission was to support a full-service library in Toledo, will meet June 3 to see how they can staff the library with an all-volunteer corps. The goal is to keep it as open as possible to anyone wishing to use the facility, Caldwell said.
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
