If you have driven by the Cossitt Library lately, you will see more windows are being protected by plastic tarp. The Friends of the Cossitt Library have embarked on a multi-phase project to rehabilitate and preserve this magnificent old structure. The seed money for this project comes from a grant awarded to the Friends from the Pomeroy Brace Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. You will see from the insert in this issue of the Drummer that the Friends are launching a “Restore Cossitt” campaign to enlist additional support to help them complete this ambitious project.
Some may ask what is the Pomeroy-Brace Fund that is helping create so many wonderful improvements around Granby? The late Seth and Lucy Holcombe’s generosity will forever be felt by many of Granby’s non-profit organizations. Their legacy, in the form of the Pomeroy-Brace Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, allows specified Granby non-profits to apply for grants from the Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving each year to meet their organization’s needs. When awarded, such grants can provide initial, or sometimes total, funding for a specific project or need. In the Friends case, the Grant funds are enabling us to address problems with the town-owned library building that are not met by regular town budget monies.
The Friends are working closely with Granby’s Director of Library services and Department of Public Works, the newly formed Town-Friends Cossitt Projects Committee, the State Historic Preservation Office and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation on the multi-phase project to preserve the Cossitt Library building. Presently we are in the Planning and Development stage 1 of the project from which we will learn exactly what the building’s needs are and in what order those needs should be addressed. The second phase will see the actual rehabilitation/preservation process begin. The Friends will also apply for grants from other funders whose mission focuses on the preservation of historical buildings.
Many such funders look more favorably on projects where the applying organization also raises project funds on their own to demonstrate community support for the project. Please join us in our efforts to preserve the Cossitt Library, a unique part of Granby’s history. Please complete the form inserted with this issue of the Drummer and help us Restore Cossitt.