Hebron Public Library prepares to reopen as donor-funded renovations finish

After closing its doors months ago, the Hebron Public Library at 9908 St. Albans St. is almost ready to again welcome the public in to browse its shelves filled with both fiction and nonfiction, including local history about the evolution of the small town in northern McHenry County.

Over the past several months, renovations have transformed the library, which since the 1970s has been housed within a former Presbyterian church built in 1877.

The library is set to reopen to the public later this month, and the library board still is in the process of setting a firm date to begin showing off the upgrades to the facility, which cost about $38,000, library board president Josh Stevens said.

Since the Hebron Public was established in 1915, the library has been managed by a nonprofit, volunteer board and sustained entirely by private donations, with no tax funding, according to the McHenry County Historical Society.

Some large gifts left to the privately run Hebron Public Library by people who recently died, along with the generosity of regular donors who contribute a few dollars when they can, helped make the project possible, board members said.

Green carpeting was removed from the old church structure, wood floors were revealed, electrical work was performed, the ceiling was varnished and the front door was replaced, brightening the space holding bookcases and giving the library board hopes it can start hosting more reading and science events, parties and gatherings.

“It’s such a unique space. You see libraries that are kind of modernized and whatnot, and that is excellent, don’t get me wrong. But when I saw this, it has that old-time feel. It feels like you’re in a small town back in the day,” Stevens said.

While the former church building has a new look, the books displayed right at the front of the library last week on the first shelf seen by patrons when they walk in were works based on local events from long ago, including the title, “Once there were Giants,” about the 1952 state basketball championship run by Alden-Hebron High School, the smallest school to ever win state.

Another title featured prominently at the library’s checkout desk is hard to find elsewhere: the nonfiction work “A Two Way Street Through Hebron’s History,” a compilation of historical essays about the village written by an Alden-Hebron composition class in the 2005-06 school year.

“Having a library is really a hub for the community and we’re slowly trying to transition it to more of a focal point for the community, which would include its history,” said Colleen Geils, a member of the Hebron Public Library’s board who also works as Alden-Hebron School District 19′s media specialist.

In the composition class book’s preface, the writer Jennifer Wooten noted the mission of assembling a comprehensive history of Hebron tried by the class, and, of course, the library, is not easy.

“A vast majority of the town’s history has been passed down verbally from generation to generation,” Wooten wrote, adding that the area had been “mostly unaltered since its founding in 1936″ and that the book was created to “preserve the Hebron that all of us cherish” as the village faced the prospect of change with development proposals in the mid-2000s.

For some local residents, contributing to the library financially has been an important way to safeguard that Hebron history Wooten said is worth documenting.

The renovations have “really allowed us to open up the space and reestablish the use of our community room,” said Karen Lalor, a member of the library’s board.

The library moved into a building on Main Street in 1926 before relocating into the church building more than 40 years later, according to the historical society.

This month will mark the second library reopening in less than a year, as it shut its doors last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened in November, Stevens said.

Now, Lalor said, the board’s next goal is for the library to begin “expanding the hours, seeing more people take advantage of it, seeing it continue to thrive and encourage more people to use it.”

She wants to raise awareness that a laptop is available to use at the library for people who need access to a computer, and Stevens, the president of the library board, wants to also get the library’s catalogue online and available to residents to search to see if certain items are available to check out.

Hebron Public Library is open from 2 to 5 p.m. Mondays, 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

“Come in and enjoy it. Bring your kids back,” Lalor said.