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8067 E. Main Street
P.O. Box 128
Manchester, WA 98353
360-871-3921
Click here to see a slideshow of our library.
History back to top
Manchester Library
The Manchester
Library’s history is really the story of the people in our small community. From the beginning settlers believed that a local library would be vital to the well being of the community
and they were willing to put those beliefs into action. Our story has many vibrant threads woven together into the fabric of time and community.
Manchester is nestled on the shores of the great Puget Sound. It is a place where everyone knows his neighbor, a place where community responsibility is
valued. Its roots go deep into the past, beginning on October 10, 1871 when Washington was still a territory and steamer ships were calling.
The library began with a single citizen’s belief that a strong community needed a library. That citizen was Mary J. Sanford, who owned the local Manchester
Shopping Mart and was a member of the county’s rural library board. She donated a corner of her business to be the “library”, and organized the first library
committee, which took responsibility for volunteer staff, furnishings, heat, and light. The Manchester Library opened for business on July 1, 1947. Money was raised by collecting
donations, giving round-robin parties in which each guest donated 25 cents, and passing “market baskets” from house to house for neighbors to donate baked goods,
jam or other foods. Each neighbor could then take out what he or she wished from the basket with a donation to the library fund.
By 1948 the Kitsap
County Rural Library was providing books and the operation moved into a slightly renovated donated chicken coop! In 1953 the chicken coop was torn down and the library moved
temporarily into the Manchester Improvement Club building. The following year a 16’ by 24’ modular building was constructed on Port of Manchester property, all
completed with donations of money, materials and labor from the local citizens. The library had found a real “home”, which lasted for twenty-six years. In 1976 the newly
re-chartered Friends of the Manchester Library became a registered nonprofit organization, decided to build a permanent building and applied for a loan from the Farmer’s
Home Administration. The FmHA was skeptical that a community group could repay a loan with fund-raising as its only source of income, but in the end granted the loan. It was the first
of its kind for a library. With a library grant (from the Kitsap County Library), donations, and many hours of volunteer construction, the building was completed in 1980. The FmHA loan
was paid off in 1986, thirty-four years early! In 1994 a county grant helped pay for an addition that expanded the library’s space and provided a community meeting room.
Mary J. Sanford’s daughter, Louise Pedersen, volunteered for nearly 20 years before becoming a paid librarian in 1965. The community room
built in 1994 is named in her honor. All of the money needed to build and maintain the building has been raised, borrowed, or solicited by a devoted group of volunteers, whose
families and friends still keep the building open nearly 60 years later.
The people of Manchester cherish their library, and continue to find creative
methods to raise money and support it. One example is the recycled wood from the original chicken coop that was saved and in 2003 a local craftsman turned into a steamer trunk that
was raffled off. The primary fund-raiser has been an annual Father’s Day Salmon Bake. The salmon is cooked over an open alder fire as the community gathers for a sociable
afternoon. To honor this tradition, a leaping salmon is the library’s mascot. The library gardens sport a donated metal sculpture of “A Fish Called Wanda Fuca” (a
fun reminder of the movie by a similar name and the nearby Strait of Juan de Fuca). Other fund-raisers include operating a store of used books, organizing fun runs, bake sales, an
annual plant sale and a annual raffle of donated home-made quilts and wood-works from local community artisans. A nearby restaurant also hosts a Penny Jar which collects
hundreds of dollars every year in donations.
Our beloved 2800 square foot library is surrounded by pristine gardens designed, donated and
maintained by volunteers from the community’s Long Lake Garden Club and the Friends of the Library. The gardens are a water-wise teaching garden, used to demonstrate
environmentally sound gardening techniques and educate the public on local flora. The gardens also feature a recent donation of Native American Art called Whirlwind Moon by James
Kelsey. The lush gardens have also been used to raise money through several “Dessert in the Garden” events held outdoors in the balmy days of late August.
Today the library is supported by a wide variety of groups and individuals from the community. It owns the current building and rents the land it sits
on for $1.00 a year from the Port of Manchester. It supports the community in return by giving books to the local veterans home, a domestic violence shelter, a local hospital, and to a
women’s prison. It also maintains a memorial and surrounding gardens built by the American Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The Friends of the
Library support the community by coordinating and funding entertaining and educational programming for children and adults. They help pay for a summer reading program, special
holiday and seasonal programs, and guest entertainers and educators. Classes are as diverse as the population. One evening it might be belly dancing and the next a movie fun night
for teens with free tattoos by local artisans.
The Manchester Library is now part of the Kitsap Regional Library System and offers the wonders of
technology, sporting a WiFi connection, ebooks, Internet stations and an electronic catalog with 19,000 electronic format journals and dozens of Research Databases. The library is
open six days a week, has weekly children’s story times, a book discussion club, and the meeting room is filled with citizens who can rent it for an economical fee.
In the end it is our library that proudly represents our communities volunteerism and sense of community. It is our library, which the people have rallied around for
decades and it is our library that is central to the feeling of community. It is the living heart of our community.
Friends of
the Library back to top
The Friends of Manchester Library meets regularly once a month on the fourth Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in the library meeting room. The library
building operating expenses are paid entirely by this community group. The volunteers in this group raise funds through the annual salmon bake held on Father's Day, collect
proceeds from their well managed bookstore that is open during library hours, and gather rental revenue from the meeting room. Donations also help pay expenses. The Friends
group welcomes new members.
Manchester Friends Officers are... President: John Winslow (
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Vice Pres: Ray Pardo Secretary: Carol Campbell Treasurer: Rich Weixler
Meeting
Room back to top
The Manchester Branch Library meeting room, named the "Louise Pedersen Community Room" (after a former librarian), is available to
groups at reasonable rates. The room includes a refrigerator, microwave, TV and VCR, and coffee pot. For commercial use, the rental fee is $20 for the first 2 hours, and $10 for each
additional hour. For use by non-profit and government groups, fees are $15 for the first 2 hours, and $5 for each additional hour. All periods include set-up and break-down time. For
further information and scheduling requests, please contact the library staff during library hours.
Click here for information on reserving other library meeting rooms.
Manchester Book Worms
Manchester Book Worms Book
Discussion Group meets on the third Tuesday of each month in the Manchester Library Louise Pedersen Community Room 7-8:30 p.m. Check
the Events calendar for sales dates.
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