CAPE MAY – The city and hundreds of its residents and visitors celebrated the opening of a brand-new 16,000-square-foot library on Thursday, June 13, with a “book brigade” human chain that whisked books from the old library on the corner of Hughes and Ocean to the new one on Franklin Street, giving new life to the bones of the old Franklin Street School.
Energy was high as civic groups from across the county, including American Legion Post #198 and Cape May CARES, came to support the initiative, having been invited by the mayor. Lots of visitors joined in from off the street.
Books were passed hand-to-hand along the half-mile route. Mayor Zach Mullock led the charge with a Bible that resided in the Franklin Street School when it was still operational. “We need as many people as possible, join in!” he said.
The project took nearly a decade of planning and work and cost more than $11 million, including $3.4 million from the New Jersey library system.
Cape May’s Center for Community Arts once held a lease on the property and worked to turn the old school into a civic center. The new library, part of the county library system, will essentially serve that same purpose as people come for lectures, exercise classes, free concerts, art classes and other programming.
Contact the reporter, Collin Hall, at chall@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 156.
