A Miss and a Repeat on a Warm February Monday

Yesterday was one of those spring-like days we sometimes get in Ohio, with a scattering of snow banks still on the ground from last week’s storm but the temperature rising to 65 degrees (according to the thermometer on my car at 2:30 pm). So I decided to visit the farthest library branch from my house, the Bremen Rushcreek Memorial Branch of the Fairfield County District Library in Bremen, Ohio. Google Maps offered me a 58-mile route that would take me on some local back roads, the most interesting of which turned out to be Chicken Coop Hill Road. (A joke comes to mind… Why do chicken coops have only 2 doors. Because if they had 4 doors they’d be chicken sedans.)

The first thing I learned when I got to Bremen was that it was once an oil boom town, as indicated on a roadside historical marker.

I had planned on eating lunch at a local restaurant in Bremen. My GPS unit indicated there were three cafes and a drive-in in town along with a Subway. Unfortunately, all the cafes and the drive-in were closed and seemingly out of business. I’d much rather have eaten at the cafe on the left below, but Subway would have to do.

So then it was on to the library. However, it turned out that I’d missed the hours of operation info posted on the library website, and it was closed on Mondays as noted below. At least I got a photo of the library, but I’ll need to make another visit on a different week day in the future.

To ease my disappointment, I decided I would revisit the wonderful Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis on my way home. (See my blog post of Nov. 28, 2018.) My GPS took me there by way of some more back roads, although the drive did include having to make a detour around a road closed due to high water (recalculating…).

This return visit would allow me to explore the library further and take additional photos, including of the two original Norman Rockwell painting the library owns. These were done for the Funk & Wagnalls weekly publication, “The Literary Digest,” which was published from 1890 until 1938 and reached a circulation of more than one million by 1927. “Friends and Allies” (on the left below) appeared April 19, 1919, as WWI was winding down. “”The Boutonier” (on the right) appeared on the cover of the Easter issue on April 15, 1922. Some people claim the old couple in the picture are President and Mrs. Warren Harding. President Harding’s inauguration had taken place the previous year.

Below are photos of some details and areas I neglected to photograph in my previous visit as well as some additional photos of the children’s area, where I was limited last time by trying to avoid taking photos that would show young children. First a couple of detail shots looking back into the library from the tower and then zooming in on the sign requesting “Silence.”

Next, the area for children’s story time and the adjacent large room for Children’s Creative Play.

Here’s a photo of the large community space on the second floor overlooking the Reading Room.

Here are two photos from the library’s non-fiction section, which includes the library’s computer area.

Finally, after searching the fiction stacks for books on my Amazon Want List, I headed for the Reading Room. One side of this room is used as a Teen Area (below left) and the other side has my favorite wingback chair for reading (below right).

I sat and read for about 45 minutes until I needed to check out the two books I’d found and head for home.

The Wagnall’s Memorial Library is definitely my favorite library so far, with 41 libraries to go. It should be 40, but the Bremen Rushcreek Memorial Branch Library will have to wait for another day.