Library lifeline for community of Garrison

Editor's note: Each week we will literally throw a dart at a map of Eastern Iowa. Where the dart lands, we'll head in search of a story. We hope to discover and share stories of people and places we might not ordinarily take note of, but who make our communities special.

Located just west of Vinton, Garrison is home to 371 people.

What the town lacks in numbers, it makes up for in enthusiasm for its community library.

A fixture in Garrison since 1975, the Garrison Public Library started in a former sixth-grade classroom. For years, it served patrons from a location donated by the local bank in the heart of town.

But on July 11, 2011, devastating winds ripped the roof off the library and severely damaged the building. While only one book from the collection was destroyed, the rest of the building was considered a complete loss.

A group of seven - all women - considered the options, including working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild the old library, and decided a new library was the best option.

'We went from heartbreak and despair to determination,” library board member Dorothy Readnour said.

The road to rebuilding was not always easy.

'We didn't have the same vision as the town council,” said Mavis Dickerson, president of the board. 'We were in the same book, but not on the same page.”

Eventually the city gave the library board the go-ahead to build a facility as long as the board members raised $150,000 to get the project going.

'We sent out letters to all the alumni of the former Garrison High School,” Readnour said. 'They responded very well and were the encouragement that kept us going.”

While the lion's share of the funds raised have come from grants and insurance settlements, the board members also hosted flea markets, sold T-shirts and ran spaghetti dinners.

To date they have raised nearly $360,000 and the fundraising will continue, they say, until the library is done.

'We will do this,” Readnour said matter-of-factly.

In the meantime, since the 2011 storm, the library has been operating out of a small room donated by St. Mark Lutheran Church, says Angela Dague, the library's director. There is a small selection of books and DVDs available for children and adults, and the library also offers Internet access and a summer reading program.

The goal is to open the new library facility by Thanksgiving.

'This community needs a library,” Dickerson says. 'Where else are the children going to go? It's a rallying point for our community. It gives stability. It's the heartbeat.”

The library, when completed, also will house the city clerk's office and have a multipurpose room that can be used for various events and programs.

'We are excited about the kinds of community programs we can do,” Dague said. 'That was an opportunity we just didn't have in our old library because of space. We can't wait to have our library back and get all our old friends out of storage.”