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‘Perseverance’ celebrated with 25th anniversary of PCPL addition
“You never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.”
This is what a community member expressed in an October 1993 letter about having a library to serve Greencastle and Putnam County. Underscoring it was whether the Putnam County Public Library needed to expand.
Acting on a desire to better serve the community, adding needed space to the library was realized 25 years ago with a new addition to Greencastle’s Carnegie library. It stands as the most consequential improvement in PCPL’s 130-year history.
In 1881, the Indiana legislature passed a statute allowing for school boards to levy taxes to support libraries. The Greencastle School Board then began to purchase books and stored them at the old high school.
In June 1891, the Greencastle City Council decided to expand the collection by renting space on the courthouse square. Its 17 stacks were moved to the space on Indiana Street where the old Kersey music store was. At this juncture, the library was opened to the public. Belle Hanna then became its first head librarian/director.
A commission was formed in February 1902 to secure grants for building the Carnegie library, and local funds were raised to purchase the lot at the corner of Vine and Walnut streets. Grants totaling $25,000 were given through Andrew Carnegie, whose philanthropy funded many other such libraries throughout the nation.
The cornerstone of the Carnegie library was laid in August 1902, and construction went until the next spring. The library was dedicated on June 5, 1903 to principally serve the Greencastle community. It would eventually come to serve all of Putnam County beginning in 1947.
Before Ellen Sedlack arrived as the library’s director in 1972, no notable changes had been made at PCPL in terms of services or expansion. Catherine Hayek, Sedlack’s daughter, related her mother knew immediately that the library could — and needed to — grow.
“I think she thought that the people of Putnam County deserved a wonderful library,” Hayek said. “She wanted access for everyone in the county to not only have the resources that they need, but to be able to come to a beautiful place and have a center for learning, a center for gathering.”
Sedlack recognized early on that the library was overcrowded and unable to offer a variety of services. Discussions for an expansion began in the early 1980s, including a prospect of moving out of the Carnegie building and moving elsewhere. Sedlack, however, wanted to preserve this tie to PCPL’s history and incorporate it.
The library met opposition from community members wary of a tax increase from the approximately $2.6 million project. This was compounded by setbacks including a bond issuance denial, a letter of nonsupport from the Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners and uncertainty about a remonstrance against the project.
“It was pretty mean,” Bob Sedlack, Ellen’s husband, said, recalling that she was “totally deflated.” Nonetheless, she, the Friends of the Library and the Library Board then pushed harder for the expansion, with Mrs. Sedlack maybe using what Hayek regarded as a “kind persuasion.”
Sedlack provided that an “act of God” occurred when the Presbyterian church near the library burned down after being struck by lightning. It was then decided to move the house which once belonged to the Tzouanakis family across the street. This inexorably freed up the land needed to accommodate the expansion.
Ground was finally broken on the addition on July 1, 1995. It was completed a little over a year later and dedicated on Dec. 1, 1996. The new space added 18,000 square feet and the parking lot to the original Carnegie wing, which was also restored and updated during the construction.
For her leadership of the project, Sedlack was honored as the 2000 Greencastle Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year and was later named a Sagamore of the Wabash. She retired as PCPL’s director in 2001 and passed away in January 2017. After Hanna, she is the library’s longest-serving director.
The Library Board at the time included President Fred Silander, Vice President Suzanne Bates, Valerie Buchanan, Sharon Evans, Bonnie Nealon and Judy Whitaker. Meanwhile, current Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter served as legal counsel.
“I think that perseverance was the chief quality, staying with it,” Sedlack said ultimately of his wife Ellen’s commitment to the expansion and to the library as a whole.
Library staff and community members celebrated the 25th anniversary of the addition’s completion with an open house at the library last Saturday. It was not just about Sedlack’s vision for PCPL, but also the dedication of its staff throughout its history.
“We’re always wanting to serve the community well,” Archivist Anthony Barger said. “I think that’s just been the history of this library. It’s just gone on that we’re trying to serve Putnam County the best that we can.”
