Orrville to break ground this summer on new $500K public library

Orrville will soon have its own public library built in the heart of town. 

The town scored a $500,000 federal grant to fund construction of a new library that will be built next to Town Hall on Main Street. Construction should start at the end of summer.

Mayor Louvenia Lumpkin said she’s been working to get a library in Orrville since 2019 to bring books, internet, community education classes and reading programs to a rural community that is at least 15 miles from the closest library. 

“We live in such a rural area the internet is so slow,” Lumpkin said. “With a library, students and other citizens won’t have to travel all the way to Selma. They will be within five miles of the library where they can get internet or use a computer.”

Lumpkin foresees it being a headquarters for students to study and for residents to access computers and internet to look for jobs.

The public library is the second new construction project announced for the same part of Main Street in Orrville. Earlier this month, Rural Health held a ceremony at a parcel near Town Hall to announce building a new clinic for Orrville residents. 

Better access to internet is not the only positive to having a library, the mayor points out. “I know the times we’re living in is electronic and technology. But a child should be able to read a book.”  

Lumpkin agreed that there is a special experience going to a library, smelling the smell of the books, the quiet, picking your book and finding a hidden corner in which to read it. 

The $500,000 funding for the library was one of 15 community grants secured by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell for her 7th Congressional district totaling $42.8 million from the 2023 Omnibus Government Funding Package. There are two others in Dallas County, $400,000 for Selma Riverfront Multiplex and $1.5 million for historic Brown Chapel’s restoration project. 

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Sewell’s office says the grant for Orrville was secured to provide access to educational resources for a historically underserved community.

Lumpkin said she is excited to see the library become a reality after searching for four years to get the funding to make it happen. 

“I have been applying for grants and loans,” she said, and then she contacted Congresswoman Sewell’s office. She said once the Congresswoman understood the need of the community, she put this project in with the others under the funding package. 

Lumpkin said the library can offer a variety of classes and workshops for the public.

“There could be classes of all types like art class, music class and even cooking classes. And I am looking in the future to do a GED program,” she said.  

During Spring Break and Christmas break, she hopes to have programs for the students who will be out of school and follow the tradition for public libraries to have summer reading programs during summer break, which Lumpkin said will be offered at a public library in Orrville. 

Lumpkin said they should break ground at the end of this summer. She said the actual start date will be decided at the Town Council meeting next month.

“It’s a blessing to be able to build a library and you don’t have to go get a loan to get it done. It’s for our children.”