LIBRARY TALK – AUGUST 6, 2023

Most people still know this house as ‘The Mile House’ but the tourist rooms sign is long gone. This post card is postmarked 1947. According to an article in the July 15, 1993 Ripley Bee, the house was built in 1917 by Mr. & Mrs. L. J. Germann. The name Mile House is because it is a mile from Bristow’s, or the main intersection in town.

Good news! While the gumball lights around the library have illuminated the the the sidewalks well, they have never been period appropriate, but rather a trend in the late 1980s-early 1990s when the addition was designed and the exterior columns added to the landscape. For years, we have been looking for something more in sync with the style of the library, trying all sorts of light fixtures from various stores, but all have been ‘wrong’–too small, too cute, too ‘just not right’. One of our board members kept trying different companies that created arts & crafts style fixtures, and finally the stars were aligned. The president of Old California Lighting fell in love with our library, looked at our architecture, even zoomed in to our column lights that have the original design, and custom created gorgeous column lights for us, and they will be delivered this week. Now, you have to realize that it will take a while to coordinate the installation, but we are so excited to have these for the library. The company wanted us to have the right jewelry for our library, and we think they will be beautiful.

So….if someone out there has a love for the gumball lights, talk to us—in the right location, they would be lovely, and they have held up well over the years.

Thanks to Steve Free and his band for performing in the annex this past Sunday—good music and discussion. Steve Free’s song I’ll be There for You is currently #1 on Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Folk Song Chart—congrats Steve!