The construction of the new Port Orford Library in 2007 and its subsequent (re)opening (from it’s previous location in much smaller quarters when it shared the Port Orford City Hall building) was a period of time in the town’s recent history that no resident will soon forget. Early planning meetings are documented in this issue of the Downtown Fun Zone (Vol. 14 Number 11).
It was an incredible undertaking spearheaded by Tobe Porter who was head librarian at that time. Below is an article written by her for the Oregon Library Association Quarterly in 2005:
The Opening Day occurred and coincided with the Port Orford Jubilee when the whole town showed up to celebrate the beginning of the new library. The event was covered on July 10, 2008, by The Downtown Fun Zone (Vol. 19 Number 26).
You can see more photos of the construction of the Port Orford Library in the Port Orford Historical Photos Archive.
If you have any photographs of the construction of the library or the opening day festivities that you would like to share with our project, please contact us! Details are on our “Participate in the Project” page.
Also, if you would like the complete backstory on our excellent town library, check out this post by a volunteer which excerpts Shirley Nelson’s “Home At Last: the journey of Port Orford Public Library from a traveling borrowed collection in 1921 to a home of its own in 2008.”
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