Freehold Public Library Set To Celebrate 120th Anniversary

FREEHOLD BOROUGH, NJ — The Freehold Public Library will celebrate its 120th anniversary on Saturday.

From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., attendees will be able to enjoy light refreshments, a building tour, guest speakers and an open house.

Mayor Kevin Kane, Library Director Kathy Mulholland, Library Trustee Jane Kaye, Freehold Borough Historian Kevin Coyne and Andrew Carnegie are set to speak at the event, officials said.

This anniversary celebration follows the library’s recent re-opening and building renovation project.

As an original Carnegie Library, Mulholland said the space has remained “substantially unchanged” since its construction in 1904. In December 2020, that all changed when the library received a $889,000 grant for renovations and building modernization.

As part of the grant funding, the library aimed to improve overall accessibility through improved wheelchair access, ADA-compliant restrooms and designated handicapped parking.

HVAC improvements throughout the building, a new teen room and two new ADA-compliant restrooms are just some of the many features included in the renovation plans.

“This chapter of our library’s story began with the passage of the New Jersey Construction Bond Act in 2017,” Mulholland said in a letter to library patrons. “This signaled to the library trustees, the Borough’s governing body, and our enthusiastic constituents that our time had come.”

In October, the library officially re-opened to the public. With the completion of their last elevator, Mulholland said the building will be 100% ADA-accessible for the first time in its 120-year history.

“You are the how and the why behind this entire effort,” Mulholland said to library patrons. “Quite simply, without you, there would be no Freehold Public Library. Without you, there would be no need for a library.”

“So I say, in all sincerity,” Mulholland continued. “Welcome back home.”

For more information, you can visit the Freehold Borough Facebook page. To read the library’s December Newsletter, click here.

The Freehold Public Library is located at 28 ½ East Main Street, Freehold.

Related

• Freehold Public Library Set To Reopen Following Renovations
• Freehold Library Receives $889K For Accessibility, HVAC Updates
• Renovation Of Freehold Public Library To Be Topic Of Open House