Western Wayne News - Front Page

Internet Edition

September 30, 2009

Cambridge City Public Library Charts Next Steps in Project

(L-R) In front - Vickie Melek, Library Director; Rosalie Degranrut, Board President. In back - Bosard members Paul Gordon, Lori Griffin, Trina Gulde and Verne Clingenpeel.

   Cambridge City Public Library board members and representatives of other firms helping them renovate the former Allen Chevrolet building, 600 W. Main St., into a new library met for the first time Tuesday afternoon.
    Inside the roomy future home of the new library on Cambridge City’s west side, board members met with Jonathan Hess and Dave Long of Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects, Indiana-polis; Collette Irwin-Knott of Umbaugh & Associates, Indianapolis; and Greg Beumer of Beumer Consulting, LLC, Farmland, Ind., to determine next steps in the $2.3 million project that could be complete by the spring of 2011.
    Cambridge City Public Library board members learned earlier this month they’d received a $500,000 Com-munity Focus Fund grant for the library project. The CFF grant is funded by the federal Com-munity Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which is administered by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).

Homecoming
King and Queen	Prince & Princess

Mitchell Sherwood and Jessica Weesner.	Max Erlewein and Samantha Rihm.
Congratulations!

    In addition to the $500,000 grant, the library renovation will be funded by contributions/fundraising, sale of the existing library building and a municipal bond.
    Library board members are to begin collecting signatures from people who support the renovating of the former auto dealership into a new library. They will also meet soon to discuss fundraising for the project.
    Hess told board members that Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects will work on conceptual and design revisions for their review.

Dublin Community Club and Cambridge City
Library Among Those Receiving Grants.

    The Wayne County Foundation has awarded $84,794.24 to 22 organizations in the community activities and education categories during their August grant cycle.
    The Foundation’s community grant making is made possible by income from unrestricted and field-of-interest endowment funds.
    Grant awards are as follows: * Community Food Pantry: $8,855. * American Legion Post 65: $3,000. *Town of Dublin: $15,00 to provide a new roller rink floor at the Dublin Community Club. *Christian Charities of Richmond and Wayne Co. Inc: $2,000. *Wayne County Historical Museum: $1,000. *Richmond Family YMCA: $5,000. *Retired Senior Volunteer Program: $500. *Cambridge City Public Library: $1,230 to digitize the 2006-2008 Western Wayne News and make a DVD of the papers from 1850-2008 for library patrons to use. *American Red Cross" $4,000. *Center City Development Company: $6,600. *Centerville-Abington Community School Corporation: $3,330. *Richmond Community Schools: $500. *Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District $2,500. For more of the above story, please subscribe!

A small but cheery group gathered in front of the Vinton House in the pouring rain on Monday morning, Sept. 21, to start on the local leg of the Whitewater Walk. The group followed the course of the old Whitewater Canal to the south side of Milton.

Whitewater Canal Scenic Byway Walk

Photo and story by Bob Hansen
       Rain didn’t keep a dozen walkers from taking the path of the Whitewater Canal from Cambridge City to Milton on Sept. 21.
    The group was participating in the Whitewater Walk, an 8-day adventure following the Whitewater Canal Scenic Byway. This was the fourth annual event. It started in Richmond on Sept. 19 and visited Hagerstown on Sept. 20. During a night’s stay at the Huddleston Farm House Inn at Mount Auburn, Jerry and Phyllis Mattheis gave a "virtual" tour of historic Cambridge City, using an aerial view created in about 1880.
    On Monday, Sept. 21, rain greeted walkers who assembled at the Vinton House along the historic National Road in Cambridge City. Still, the group set out walking.
    They visited Powell Paving at Milton, where Randy Powell, president, showed the remnants of Milford Cemetery. He also showed how the remains of an old Friends Church have been used as part of the company’s shop area. During a visit to the home of Roy and Cathy Vandivier, Roy showed his collection of vintage windmills. Most date from the first part of the 20th century. There, the group was joined by Brian Blackford of Indianapolis, tourism development director for the State of Indiana.
    The group then trekked southward along State Road 1 and the Whitewater Canal path to the Jonathan Ferris farm. There, they viewed the City Run Culvert, an arched structure made from native stone which carried the canal over a creek. They also visited a feeder dam for the canal which straddles the Whitewater River.
    Later in the week, the group would be riding by canoe, kayak and pontoon boat, taking the rail from Connersville to Metamora, linking with the Ohio President Pathways Scenic Byway and viewing remnants of the canal in Ohio, and ending up at Lawrence-burg, on the Ohio River.
    The Whitewater Canal Scenic Byway is a highway route through southeastern Indiana that roughly follows the canal, which closed in 1847. The byway is intended to link areas in the region together in pursuit of common goals, said Candy Yurcak of Metamora, president of the Whitewater Canal Byway Association.
    The group is marking the byway with specially designed signs. It is also developing an interpretive site at Metamora, along with a brochure and promotional activities. For more information, visit the group’s Web site, www.whitewatercanalscenicbyway.org.