By Colleen Nelson
From the outside, Eva K Bowlby Library fits right in with all the other stately homes on North Richhill Street, each one a reminder that Greene County has had more than one gas and oil boom. Wildcatters and lucky leaseholders of the early 20th century brought their sudden riches to Waynesburg’s north side and converted pastureland into dream homes. One of my favorite photos from that era is the huge turkey farm that covered the hill behind the fancy new house that wildcatter Carhart Bowlby built for his family. How it became a library is preserved in the notes May Phillips Clovis kept for the Waynesburg Women’s Club. In 1943 a new generation of young families were ready to start the first children’s library in town in the main Sunday school room of the First Methodist Church.
Mrs. Clovis tells us “the church trustees revealed to us Miss Nellie Donley had left a bequest of $100 to start a church library. …We were now able to order our first books.” She also notes that Mrs. Bowlby, now a matronly widow, was a member of the church and would become known for her generous donations to the library cause as the years went by.
In one short year the library had outgrown the church. This time the whole community did some serious fundraising and those first 493 books were moved to High Street to become the Waynesburg Children’s Library. For the next 13 years the collection continued to grow. When Mrs. Bowlby’s will was read in 1957, Mrs. Clovis reports, the community was delighted to learn she had “bequeathed her home as a library, so long as it continued to maintain a children’s library.” Once again, intrepid volunteers moved books – this time more than 9000 of them – to their present home.
By 1970 the library renamed itself Eva K. Bowlby Library in her honor, with books and educational materials for all ages, a youth room upstairs and a staff of dedicated workers and volunteers to serve everyone, but especially the children of Greene County.
I love parking my car behind the library and, with a cheery nod to the long forgotten turkey farm, heading to the back door and down the stairs to the main floor. To me it feels like going to that special place where it’s always warm and cozy, where questions are answered, where if you sit down you’ll be there for hours satisfying your curiosity about the world.
For Georgina Gifford, it’s a place to check her email too.
“My computer went down so I started coming here, mostly in the evenings,” Georgina tells me. Now she’s a regular in the main room where regulars are on a first name basis and reference bookshelves stretch from floor to ceiling behind the rows of computer stations. I find Kathy Douglas manning the reference library desk and I tell her I’m here to write about what the library has to offer these days. She beams and says, “Wait right here, I’ll go get Megan Ealy.”
One look at the monthly calendar Megan hands me and I see that libraries have certainly evolved to be much more than books.
Tonight Megan is wearing a great fitting top that will be one of the new styles at the library’s first fashion show on April 25 at the Moose Club from 4-7 p.m.. “It’s all spring fashions from Marcella Ann and a kids’ line from Muddy Puddle and we’ll be modeling them,” she says, striking a pose and laughing. As a Waynesburg University student Megan volunteered here, and in 2018 was hired to be Family Literacy coordinator. She supervises the Teen Advisory Group (TAG) that gives teens a voice to help plan new activities that will bring more people – especially teens – into the library. Megan’s job is to make these things happen and make sure they’re safe.
“Kids love explosions and I’ve had to nix a few projects they come up with, but we did Alka Seltzer and paint to make explosive art!”
Megan admits she’s now leader of the pack – from six weeks to 18 years, from baby lap sit class to high school graduation.
There is an ever expanding world of adventure going on in the children’s library downstairs where rooms spill over with books, puppets, games and activities on shelves waiting to be brought out. There are tables for projects, carpeted spots to sprawl on and plenty of books to explore. Computers along the wall behind the librarian’s desk give older students space to do their homework and monthly programs are happening for kids of all ages – Toddler and Preschool Story Classes, reading competitions, movies every Wednesday night, writing workshops, TAG meetings and SAT prep classes. Kids with a passion for LEGOs get together on Saturday mornings at 11:00 a.m. and pop up STEM days can happen on those Monday’s when school is closed.
New programs include B.R.A.I.N. Campaign with a WU student facilitator and an art class taught by Central Greene freshman Alexis Rockwell, who has already won awards for her work.
But adults shouldn’t feel left out. There’s Pie and Bingo night for all ages every fourth Friday 6-8 p.m. and a Brown Bag Book Club modeled after Great American Read on PBS every third Wednesday at noon. The Cookbook Club meets the fourth Monday at 6 p.m. with a monthly theme. Members bring their favorite dishes to share and be critiqued. “It’s for people who love to cook – the theme for March is breakfast,” Kathy Douglas tells me. “The club is sponsoring our first Chili Cook Off on March 14 and it’s open to the public. For a five dollar donation you can taste them all.”
Megan did her first Escape Room with help from TAG on Valentines Day and declares it a success. Couples got locked into an upstairs room with ten clues to solve to get the password that would send the key sliding under the door. All couples made it out before their hours were up, she’s happy to report.
“I’m ready to do it again this summer and it will tie into our summer reading theme Imagine Your Story.”
At $10 per person, the escape room was another fundraiser for the new addition, which will feature Pennsylvania history, with meeting rooms and its own outside entrance.
Kathy wants the community to know that Bowlby Library is ready to help those who want to do the 2020 Census online. The count officially starts in mid-March and “we have six computers plus three laptops and free Wifi if you want to use your own laptop or mobile device. Or you can check out one of our mobile hot spots and do it anywhere if you have our library and valid ID.”
No wonder I love this place!