The renovations to the Windham Center Library are close to completion. The building will be open on Saturday, Sept. 28 for tours. Haley Pal / For Lakes Region Weekly

For the first time in many years, the Windham Center Library will open its doors to the public on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Windham Historical Society’s Fall Harvest Festival. Over the course of the summer, Karen Lougee, secretary of the society and the building’s steward, has been busy working with contractors to get the building into shape in time for the upcoming event, the society’s biggest fundraiser of the year. “It required some structural renovations and a new roof,” Lougee explained. “We also needed to have some tree branches trimmed, but now we have our occupancy approval and we can open the doors.”

The little white library has a long history in the Windham Center area of town. It began in the 1850s when a group of women in the local sewing circle started what they called the Windham Circulating Library. They named it this because at first, the library’s volumes were moved annually from house to house among the women in the sewing circle. In 1870, the members of the Circulating Library created the Windham Center Library Association. Then in 1890, a room in the small building next to Alley Hawke’s Grocery on Windham Center Road became available and the reading club used this as their operating center.

Haley Pal, a Windham resident and active member of the Windham Historical Society, can be contacted at haleypal@aol.com.

In 1907, the club purchased the entire building and the Windham Center Library was born with 800 volumes available for people to borrow. This tiny little structure remained the library for Windham Center until 1971 when the Windham Public Library was constructed. At that time, the Windham Center Library transferred the 2,000 volumes it had accumulated over the years to the new public library.

The building was moved next to the new library in 1973 and became the town’s loan closet until the need outgrew the space. Shortly thereafter, the building made one final move across the street to the Windham Historical Society’s property on Windham Center Road and was placed next to the Old Town House Museum where it is found today.

If this building could talk, it would probably have as many stories to tell as the volumes it used to contain. It will become the Windham Center Library Museum when it reopens at the Fall Harvest Festival. It currently contains some of the very books you would have found if you visited in days gone by.

“We are very excited to reintroduce this building to the people of Windham,” Lougee said. “It’s a wonderful piece of history to bring back to life and I’m glad I could be a part of it.”

This year’s Fall Harvest Festival will be much like last year’s event, reminiscent of an old-fashioned country bazaar. There will be relay races, a pie eating contest, a pumpkin decorating contest, as well as cornhole and horseshoe competitions. The vendor fair will be back, but with twice as many exhibitors as last year. The popular white elephant table is returning, bigger and better, with even more bargains to discover. And once again, there will be musical entertainment throughout the day. Burgers and hot dogs will be available for lunch and the legendary desserts baked by society members will also be on sale. And new this year, there will be antique Model-A and Model-T cars on display. The opening of the Windham Center Library is the icing on the cake. For those who haven’t been to the society’s Village Green yet, this is a great opportunity to discover this fascinating parcel of history that sits right in the heart of Windham Center. Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.