LIBRARY TALK – OCTOBER 28, 2023
From the desk of Alison Gibson, Director
Found another postcard to share and we hope you enjoy this one. There is no date on the card, but from digging a bit, we have a fairly narrow window. The white building is Maddox and Trapp, Quality Furniture and Funeral Directors. Our copies of the Ripley Bee show it in business from 1905-1911. Anyway, in late 1911, it was sold to Trapp & Gardner, who carried on the furniture and funeral business. In looking at the advertisements for Maddox and Trapp, they don’t give an address, but a description, saying ‘white front’. Next to Maddox and Trapp is a well-known old name in Ripley, Linn Clothing (probably W. F. Linn Clothing) and in their advertisements, they said Main near Third St. The gathering? Was it an auction? Certainly well attended. Interesting to see horse and buggy as well as automobile during this transportation transition period.
If you saw and heard the work around the library, please excuse the mess. We had to repair/replace the back stairs to the meeting room as well as bust out some of the sidewalk due to tree root damage and age. For safety reasons we have, in the past, ground down some of the sidewalk out front, but it comes to a point where grinding isn’t enough, and we want to have a safe, level sidewalk. We won’t be doing all of the sidewalk, but for safety-sake we felt we couldn’t wait any longer, not knowing exactly when the village will be able to re-do lower Main St or if new Second Street sidewalks were even a possibility.
Final reminder that the Ripley Friends of the Library will be sponsoring the Trunk or Treat on Tuesday October 31st from 6-7:30 in the Ripley Library parking lot—family friendly and all are welcome to come—candy, hot dogs and drinks, as well as just having fun seeing the cute (and scary) costumes, the wide eyes of the very young kids if it is their first time trick or treating, as well as just chatting with your neighbors.
