Stonington — The Stonington Free Library has completed a $933,000 expansion and renovation project that improves handicapped access to the 120-year-old building but also creates more space for materials and programs.
The library has raised all the funds for the project as a part of a $1.8 million capital campaign, which is 98% complete. Funding for the project came from state and local governments as well as private donors and organizations such as the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the Wimpfheimer Foundation.
The project has it origins back in 2010, when a flood damaged the library's wheelchair lift. That meant patrons with disabilities were unable to access the basement level, where the children's area is located, from the ground floor. The lift could not be fixed, the building did not meet handicapped accessibility codes and the lack of accessibility immediately concerned Director Belinda DeKay and Assistant Director Micayla Hall.