[New post] HAPPY 20TH TO THE HOFFMAN ESTATES BRANCH LIBRARY!
jrozek posted: " Our guest contributor this week is Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian. This column originally appeared in the November/December 2022 issue of the Hoffman Estates Citizen, the village's newsletter. The column appears here, courtesy of the " History of Schaumburg Township
Our guest contributor this week is Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian. This column originally appeared in the November/December 2022 issue of the Hoffman Estates Citizen, the village's newsletter. The column appears here, courtesy of the Village of Hoffman Estates.
The first Hoffman Estates Branch Library at 1550 Hassell Road. Photo credit to the Schaumburg Township District Library
What can you get for a dollar these days? Not much at all, but back in 1976 you could become the owner of a used fire station and the land that it stood on.
The Hoffman Estates Fire Department sold the building, for that price, to the Schaumburg Township Public Library (as it was known at the time.) They only wanted to retain the right to flush the pumper trucks and test their water pressure. A special underground tank had been built when the community welcomed Fire Station 2 to the Hassell Road neighborhood.
The conversion of the building into a library branch brought an award to Hoffman Estates for its firehouse to library design.
As time went by the building space was limiting the Branch Library from expanding. An offer of space in the new Village Hall resulted in a move in 1992. The old facility was converted into a preschool book depository.
Buckets and pails started to show up at the depository due to an old and leaking roof. Plans went ahead to tear down the aging building and build a new and bigger Branch Library.
The newly constructed Hoffman Estates Branch Library, located on its old site at 1550 Hassell Road, opened in 2002.
Hoffman Estates Branch Library built in 2002 at 1550 Hassell Road. Photo credit to the Schaumburg Township District Library.
Tucked into the old neighborhood again, it's become a quiet oasis for reading in front of the fireplace, fun stories and books for the kids or just a great "time out" place for everyone.
This year the Schaumburg Township District Library's Hoffman Estate Branch is celebrating 20 years in the 2002 newer library. It's been 54 years since it was originally established in the Fire Department's Station #2 in 1976.
Congratulations to a well loved neighborhood and family library.
Pat Barch, Hoffman Estates Village Historian eagle2064@comcast.net
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