OPEN HOUSE SET FOR TROTWOOD LIBRARY
12,000-square-foot building is located at 855 E. Main Street.
TROTWOOD — The new Trotwood Branch Library will open Friday with an open house for the public.
The 12,000-square-foot building, designed by Ruetschle Architects, is the 13th completed project in the Dayton Metro Library’s Libraries for a Smarter Future system-wide improvement plan, made possible by a $187 million bond issue approved in 2012 by Montgomery County voters.
The new library and proposed plans in Trotwood will offer new outreach and programming opportunities, according to Caitlin Wissler, Trotwood branch manager.
“We are so excited for everyone to see and explore their new library,” Wissler said. “We’re especially proud of the ways the library recognizes and honors Trotwood as the amazing community it is.”
Tim Kambitsch, executive director of Dayton Metro Library, says to date, 13 Dayton Metro Library locations have been completed in the Libraries for a Smarter Future project. As part of the plan, the main library in downtown Dayton was rebuilt and expanded.
The plan also involved building new branches in Brookville, East Dayton/ Riverside, Huber Heights, Miamisburg, New Lebanon, Englewood/Clayton, Northwest Dayton, Southeast Dayton, Trotwood, Vandalia, West Dayton and Wilmington-Stroop. In addition, four branches were renovated and expanded as part of the plan: Electra C. Doren, Kettering-Moraine, Miami Twp. and West Carrollton.
The new library in Trotwood pays tribute to its community in a number of unique ways, including a Trotwood Trailer-designed space indoors, and a Nature Play Area, funded by the Mark A
Kreusch Memorial Fund, that uses local trees downed by the 2019 Memorial Day tornadoes. A special dedication for the Nature Play Area is scheduled for May 16.
The Trotwood Branch Library is home to four original art installations in the ReImagining Works project. ReImagining Works, funded by an anonymous bequest, places original artwork in each new or newly-remodeled Dayton Metro Library location.
The artists whose work is installed at the Trotwood Library include, Michael Bashaw, Dwayne Daniel, Nick Stamas and Judy Campbell White, who are all from Dayton.
Waynesville ceramic artist Geno Luketic received a special commission for a clay tile project, using clay from the library’s construction site.
Each phase of the Trotwood library project involved community participation, including tiles created by the public during the grand opening celebration, according to Dayton Metro Library spokeswoman, Jayne Klose.
She said visitors are invited to tour the new facility, meet the artists whose works are on display, and contribute to a community art project at the March 13 event.
Regular hours resume at the library, located at 855 E. Main Street at Macgregor Drive, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 14.
Three other projects remain for the library system as the new West Branch will be located at the site of the historic Wright Airplane Factory at Ohio 35 and Abbey. The design for the new facility will be unveiled in about four to six weeks.
“We had a little bit of a logjam in getting some of the properties, as we evaluated where we were trying to find places for our new branches,” Kambitsch said. “Residents are very keen to want to tell us where branches should be or shouldn’t be located.”
He added, “that has probably been the most challenging part of this program. After we started building these, is for those that needed new properties trying to find just the right location for each one of them.”