![]() ![]() “So that people will come and spend time in the community,” she said. Langer Thompson, who said the project was long overdue, said libraries should be “destination places.” It changed from a $1.9 million renovation of the now-razed former library into a new building that costs six times as much. The Webber Park Library project has morphed a great deal since the referendum in 2000. I grew up here and I’m so proud to have grown up in the North Side.” “There’s a sentimental connection.” Though he lives in south Minneapolis now, Lawal added, “North is where my heart is. “It’s always great to be on Humboldt,” said Lawal, who grew up on the same street but in the Harrison neighborhood. In remarks at the opening ceremony, Lawal mentioned a personal link to the library, which stands just north of the community where he grew up. “I’m not one who likes to read, but that’s what I did with my mom at the library,” he said. Original art is featured throughout the new $10.5 million library. Lawal said that, during his childhood, he spent his Saturdays at Sumner Library with his mother, an English teacher. It has twice as many computers as the old space and improved Wi-Fi, and it will be open every day but Sunday. The $10.5 million library opened 17 years after voters authorized the bonding, and it replaces a 34-year-old library that was demolished in 2014.ĭesigned by architect Mohammed Lawal, who grew up on the North Side, the library is part of the Hennepin County system, which now has 41 locations. “It’s been a challenging project and we’re just really pleased and proud that the community sees themselves reflected in this library,” said Lois Langer Thompson, director of the Hennepin County Library system. Some 500 visitors had entered the Webber Park Library within the first hour, library officials said. When the doors opened at 5 p.m., children bee-lined for the Nature Station, an interactive play area, while others thumbed through cookbooks and several opened new accounts. After a wait of nearly two decades, hundreds of neighbors and book lovers turned up Thursday night to celebrate the opening of a new community library on Victory Memorial Parkway in north Minneapolis. ![]()
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