The town of Johnson has moved its library 鈥� historic building and all.
The structure has flooded countless times since it was built in the early 1900s, said Johnson Town Administrator Thomas Galinat. In 1927, the building flooded and destroyed the library鈥檚 entire collection of books, according to an . In just the past two years, it鈥檚 taken on water in three different flood events.
In July 2023, Galinat said 9 feet of water filled the building.
鈥淵ou had people sleeping in there, because once they were in there, they couldn't get out, because there was over 4 feet of water outside the building at the high side,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd you know, everyone did everything they could to move the books throughout the night. And then once the water level got high enough, there was nothing more you could do.鈥�
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At a meeting in early 2024, longtime Library Director Jeanne Engel brought the room to silence.
鈥淚 heard Jeanne say, 鈥業 can't stay there, like, we can't keep shoveling out a basement.鈥� And it was like this most sincere response, right? Like the whole room kind of stopped,鈥� Galinat said. 鈥淎nd for a moment we stopped talking about money, and we stopped talking about process, and you could just feel the emotion in the room of like, this isn't realistic. You know, this building is going to fall into the ground.鈥�
Though the idea had been floated for a couple decades, moving the building out of the flood zone where the Gihon River meets the Lamoille always seemed like a far-fetched dream.
But the idea isn鈥檛 completely out of left field: The library holds significance as the only historic Georgian revival-style building in Johnson, according to . (The building is also described as 鈥淐arnegie style鈥� because its appearance is similar to the many Carnegie-funded libraries that were being constructed around the country during the turn of the century.)
Galinat said a 2017 engineering study confirmed that, if the building were to stay in the same place, they鈥檇 have to do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work to keep it from sinking, and they鈥檇 lose the basement storage. Plus, they鈥檇 still have to close the library after every flood to clean out silt.
鈥淲hen the pipe dream that is so outrageous becomes the solution, it tells you how dire the situation is,鈥� he said.
Galinat took the idea to the Johnson Select Board, who said they could apply for a grant to cover the library鈥檚 move. From there, town officials and residents were galvanized.
鈥淲e had partners and husbands and wives and friends. 鈥� People were measuring the street, the width between poles and street lights, and contractors were called and estimates were given, and in two weeks, the most perfect application for any grant I've ever seen was put together by this really wonderful collaboration,鈥� Galinat said.
Last fall, about $1.6 million through the U.S. Department of the Treasury Capital Projects Fund grant program.
The town found a local company to move the building, and they put together the plan to pick the structure up in the early morning hours and move it 0.4 miles across Route 15 and onto Legion Field, where it neighbors the town鈥檚 elementary school. Galinat said they had to remove four trees in preparation 鈥� one, a beloved crabapple, was dug up by a group of volunteers and relocated to the town鈥檚 arboretum.
In all, more than 100 volunteers were involved with the prepwork, Galinat said, including schoolchildren who painted the boards protecting the library鈥檚 windows during the move.
The library made it across Route 15 relatively unscathed, save for one corner that was sawed off so the library could squeeze by a nearby building.
With the library in its new home, the town will add a new basement and a covered porch, so they can offer 24-hour internet access to residents. Galinat said it鈥檚 becoming more important than ever to provide that resource, as towns like Johnson face more flood events in the years to come.
After all the repeated flood damage the town has experienced, Galinat said this feels like a new start.
In fact, the name of the project is 鈥淩ewriting Our Story.鈥� A fitting name, Galinat said, for a town that 鈥渄esperately needs a win.鈥�
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 truly this first chapter of like, the win.鈥�
