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Opened 27 November 1972 — in service today
Roots: St. Joseph Township had library service as early as 1921, in a deposit station at Thomas Burns' general store. Serious steps toward a branch came in March 1970, when the board authorized Head Librarian Fred Reynolds to negotiate for a site in the Georgetown Square Shopping Center at East State Boulevard and Maplecrest Road; the library bought about 1.62 acres there for about 35,000 dollars.
The building: Bradley and Bradley designed a one-story, 14,750-square-foot branch planned for 50,000 to 75,000 books and at least a hundred seats. Ground was broken in September 1971, and the branch opened on 27 November 1972, with Patricia Moorman as librarian — the largest of five branches then being built or relocated, in one of the metropolitan area's fastest-growing sections.
The leaking roof: The building's early life was dominated by roof leaks. In August 1979 the City-County Minimum Housing Department gave notice it would condemn the branch and order it vacated if significant repairs were not made within thirty days; library officials later said they had encouraged the condemnation procedure as a way of forcing action. Repairs prescribed by the architect were made inside the deadline, but the argument outlasted them; final repairs in 1982 ended the leaks.
Remodel: Georgetown closed on 16 September 1989 for the system-wide remodeling, served patrons from a temporary location in the same shopping center, and reopened in its own building on 15 January 1990. It remains in service, and since 2014 it has hosted the library's second maker lab (see the media and maker entry below).
Sources:
- Slater-Putt, Beyond Books (1995), ch. 4 — the deposit station, the 1970 site purchase, the design, the opening, the roof dispute (News-Sentinel, 28 August 1979 and 28 August 1981, as cited there) and the 1989–90 remodel.
- ACPL Facilities Master Plan, 2022 — Georgetown among the current thirteen branches.