By Lacey Watt
FORTVILLE — A library that was established 109 years ago and then purchased by a local church decades later, now has new owners as the bidding process just closed on the Fortville Carnegie Library building last week.
Originally established in 1916, the complete build of the library on 115 Main St. finished in 1918 and according to Fortville’s town history page, it held approximately 15,000 volumes and a circulation of 37,938 books per year.
The Daily Reporter reported back in 2019 that a group of Fortville citizens — church members, business owners and community residents — came together in 1914 with the idea to grow, and one of the first steps toward that would be a library.
The group then decided to apply for a Carnegie grant, which funded for the building’s construction. Those funds were supplied by Andrew Carnegie, who financed more than 1,600 libraries in the U.S. from 1883 to 1919. Fortville was one of the last ones to receive the grants.
In the 1980s, the library was bought by Gateway Community Church of Fortville and served as a place for hosting, including non-profit organizations and town events.
Donna Anderson, office manager for Gateway Community Church of Fortville shared that just a few months ago, the leadership team decided to sell the building in order to help with keeping the church itself updated.
“We were not using the building as it should be and didn’t have the funds to renovate it as it should be,” Anderson said.
Some cosmetic damage can be seen by the entrance of the library facing Main Street and on the overhang on the side entrance.
According to Christys of Indiana Inc, the bidding started at $100,000, with a minimum increase of $1,000 each bid. In the end, the new owners bought the building for $470,000 with a 10% buyer’s premium, which in total would make it $517,000.
The other top bidder flew in from Florida and had the idea of making the old library a bookstore.
Christys of Indiana Inc. also shared that the building is 2,880 square feet total, which includes a large open space on the main level of the building with radiant heat. Air units are located on the walls and the building comes with original doors and trim to “give character to this unique offering”.
The lower level consists of a kitchen, two bathrooms, a conference area, separate furnace room and office space with an outside walk out entrance. The property also comes with a chain link fenced-in backyard and a storage shed.
As of Aug. 19, the new owners have shared little details on what the future plans are for the use of the Carnegie library, but they did mention that they want to work on and upgrade parts of the building and plan to share more details in the near future as they do more research and finalize their plans.
