METUCHEN, New Jersey — The Metuchen Public Library, which traces its origins to more than 150 years ago, has been awarded more than $1.6 million in state funding for a major renovation and expansion project.
The matching grant comes through New Jersey’s Library Construction Bond Act. The project would renovate and expand the library’s first floor, adding more accessible, functional and collaborative spaces while improving technology and opportunities for learning and community programs.
A pending borough bond ordinance places the estimated total project cost at more than $3.5 million. It would appropriate the more than $1.6 million and authorize up to about $1.5 million in borough bonds or notes, along with an $81,990 down payment.
The remaining financing would include the state grant and money contributed by the Metuchen Public Library, which was made a municipal library in 1928, and the borough has supported it since Jan. 1, 1929
The Borough Council introduced the ordinance July 13. A public hearing and final vote are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Borough Municipal Building.
Mayor Jonathan Busch said the library welcomes more than 100,000 visitors annually and described the award as an investment in its long-term role as a community gathering place.
According to a history on its website, the library’s beginnings date to 1870, when “The Order of the Sons of Temperance” collected books and opened a reading room in the annex of the First Presbyterian Church. The “Metuchen Library Association” was formed in 1884 and maintained a room in the Old Franklin Schoolhouse for its books.
Its current building opened on Jan. 2, 1937.
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