Feature Stories |
By Beth Weinhardt Built in the 1850s, the former Anti-Saloon League headquarters in Westerville, Ohio was teeming with insects, strewn with water-logged papers and covered in benign neglect. In the peak of its influence, the League had turned a country dry through its printing and lobbying efforts which led to passage of the 18 amendment. Next to the building on State Street stood the Westerville Public Library built in 1955 on land given by the Anti-Saloon League. In 1973 one of the last remaining Anti-Saloon Leaguers, who was failing in his attempt to care for the building and its contents, walked into the adjacent library and gave the keys to the historic building to the nearest staff member, thereby beginning the process of gifting the brick structure and the huge collection of anti-alcohol information within to the public library. The League was given the home and the ground it stood on in 1909 by the Westerville Board of Trade to entice the organization to locate its printing headquarters in the small village. So it was fitting that it was given back to the people of Westerville through their public library. Library staff began the arduous task of sorting through the collection of temperance material and developing a plan for the use of the building. Most of the paper collection is housed at the Ohio Historical Society. After a much needed renovation, the old building served a dual purpose – library administration offices and depository for local history. As the public library grew, additions were completed in 1981 – merging the two structures into one – and again in 1998 giving much needed space to the heavily used library. By 2006 with the 1850s house bursting at the seams, the administration offices/local history center/Anti-Saloon League Museum gained much needed space through the completion of another library renovation and expansion project. As with all building projects, the plans were brought before the local review board. In recognition of the historic building, planners asked that the boundary of the new library add-on not extend beyond the front of the local history building. As a result, the view of both buildings maintained a pleasing and cohesive appearance for those passing by on State Street. The latest addition meshes the old and the new creating a front entryway which guides visitors into the library with the old Anti-Saloon League building on one side and a portion of the newest construction on the other. Landlocked, the Westerville Public Library has built up and out. Adding a new second floor for administration offices and bumping out the youth department toward State Street meant that every available bit of space has been used creating a new State Street façade which complements the old Anti-Saloon League headquarters. Access to the old house is through double doors flanked by glass showcases in the library interior mallway. Today the old structure is solely devoted to the local history collections, congressional papers of John R. Kasich, and the Anti-Saloon League Museum and materials. Through the historic preservation efforts of the Westerville Public Library, this old building was saved, converted into useful space, and blended comfortably with the new. |
