Talk:Colby City Hall

Doncram's notes and quotes

It has included a library.

It has included a jail.

It has included a fire station.

It was built as a project of the Kansas Emergency Relief Committee (KERC).

"The building had become a project of the KERC, a state agency which served much the same purpose as the more famous federal Works Progress Administration (WPA): to create relief employment through construction, road building, landscaping, and other public works projects. The KERC, like the WPA, provided a percentage of the funding necessary for a project, and loaned the rest at low interest rates. Among the other projects constructed or maintained in the Colby area by one or both of these agencies were the high school, the grandstand at the fairgrounds, Fike Park, and many miles of gravel roads. In autumn of 1935, the newly created WPA took over administration of the construction of the Colby City Hall; Cecil Shull served as the WPA's construction superintendent for the project. The American Legion also contributed $3000 for materials for the building's basement, in exchange for a 99-year lease on the meetings room in the basement. To minimize cost and maximize labor, native stone from a quarry on the Smoky Hill River south of nearby Monument, Kansas, was used in the construction of the Colby City Hall. Early mistakes in the building's stonework, which had to be redone, ate up vital funds and later led to delays in the completion of the building's interior. Work was temporarily stopped in May 1936 and again in September 1936 due to lack of money. Regardless of these delays, the city officers moved into the new city hall at the end of August 1936 and the library opened its doors to patrons on September 3, 1936. The completed building contained a City Administration room, council rooms, general offices, the library, banquet facilities, restrooms, fireproof vaults for city records, and basement meeting rooms for the American Legion and its Auxiliary. The fire and police departments occupied the rear portion of the building. The cost of the building was estimated at $27,000. A total of around 65 men found relief employment in the construction of the Colby City Hall. The new city hall provided a convenient central location, as well as a permanent home, for many important civic organizations. The Colby Public Library, prior to the construction of the city hall, had been a roving entity. Until 1926, the library was housed in private residences and various public buildings. In March 1926, a library board appointed by the city council decided that the library would be located in the Connelly building, and a city librarian was appointed. Between 1926 and 1936, the collection remained in the Connelly building but moved from floor to floor. As Colby was, until 1937, a taxless city, the library had no municipal funding. Plays were staged and magazine subscriptions were sold to raise money. The construction of the city hall did not immediately put an end to the library's financial struggles library supporters continued to hold talent shows and box socials and solicit gifts from various clubs and organizations but it did provide the library with its first permanent home."

FloridaArmy (talk) 18:46, 7 November 2023 (UTC)