By Jen Samuel, Managing Editor
HIGHTSTOWN — Nine decades since its inception, the Hightstown Memorial Library is coming up on its 90th birthday celebration on July 16 from 10 a.m. to noon.
Birthday cake will be provided.
Now tucked away from the bustling roadways of Route 33 and North Main Street, the library was founded on July 19, 1921.
Harriet O’Rourke, 90, of Hightstown, will attend the library’s 90th birthday party. She is the daughter of Margaret Johnson Stiff, a founding member of the library.
”From 1925 through 1937, Margaret played an important role in the early history of the Hightstown library,” said Shirley Olsen of the Hightstown Friday Club.
The club, which itself is turning 115 years old this year, initiated the library 90 years ago.
Ms. Olsen is an active member of the organization, as well as the Hightstown Woman’s Club.
This past Memorial Day, the Hightstown Friday Club celebrated the 90-year anniversary of the library with a giant float. The float featured the past and present of the library’s history. One side featured a lamp, while another side of the float featured a computer. Indeed, while the era of World War I shaped the beginning of the library’s history, a time in which fire was still commonly used in place of electricity, World War II and the Korean War also shaped the borough’s library and its future.
”They decided this would be a living memorial,” Head Librarian Linda Cholewiak said in an interview with the Herald June 20.
In Hightstown, it was a time in of community togetherness. People joined forces to create the public library and made it a memorial to the community’s veterans.
Doors are open to the public 61 hours per week, with reading, lectures and educational programs threaded into the library’s every day happenings. The library currently has 10 employees.
Across the span of nine decades, Hightstown Memorial Library has held residence at four locations.
Beginning in 1921, the historic Smith House became the first home of the library.
Its current building, at 114 Franklin St., borders Peddie Lake, was erected in 1954.
”Everyone contributed. It was built by the town,” said Ms. Cholewiak, who joined the library as an employee in 1999.
Since then, the library has expanded twice, with additions in 1975 and 1998. In 1969 the library joined the Mercer County Library system, which has nine branches.
Ms. Cholewiak attributed its success to the people of Hightstown and the community as a whole.
”It’s the patrons,” she said. “It’s a small library but there’s a feeling of loyalty. Everyone is friendly. The interaction is so positive.”
For instance, in honor of library’s upcoming 90-year celebration, recently volunteers of the Hightstown Library Association donated five e-book readers to the library.
The devices are an Apple iPad2, several Kindles, a NOOK, and a Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-9505C.
Additionally, the library has 12 desktop computers available for public usage and 10 laptops that are used for instruction. These computers were partially funded by community donations to the Hightstown Library Association, a library press release said.
Last year, the Hightstown Branch registered 272 children for its annual summer reading program. Every year the program has its own theme. For 2011, the theme is One World, Many Stories.
”One hundred eighty-five children actively participated in the weekly reading program, which lasted six weeks,” Ms. Cholewiak said of the 2010 program.
Thus far, plans for the July 16 birthday party include a very festive atmosphere for children and families, featuring colorful balloons, kid-oriented crafts and workstations, as well as live performances.
Kyla Washington, a student at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, is creating the birthday cake.
The event will move indoors if there is inclement weather, Ms. Cholewiak said.
Prior to the birthday party kickoff at 10 a.m., there will be a small ceremony inside the library with local dignities July 16, she said.
