- It's been almost 30 years since Hellertown Area Library went up at Constitution Avenue
- Local connections and a mutual interest for the greater good is what brought it along, volunteers say
- Those around for HAL's beginnings say it came forth to serve the whole Saucon Valley
HELLERTOWN, Pa. — Some would say it was a labor of love — a grassroots operation that was set forth to fill a specific need locally.
The origins of the Hellertown Area Library were fueled by a cumulative interest for a greater good, alongside a love for knowledge and community.
That's what was shared Monday at the Carriage House at Heintzelmans, during an evening of remembrance in how HAL made its way into the lives of Saucon Valley residents.
The presentation came as Hellertown Library wrangles with Lower Saucon Township officials over a proposal for the parties to join forces and provide library access and more to the township.
Lower Saucon has proposed joining Hellertown Library as part of a plan that also would involve buying the Saucon Valley Compost Center from the borough and providing resident-rate access to the Hellertown Pool.
Hellertown leaders have rejected the offer, saying it's nothing more than a “political ploy” and a power grab.
Monday's presentation was a popcorn-type discussion, with people sharing their thoughts on old pictures from library celebrations, construction periods and more.
A table sat in the back of the room, filled with old newspaper clippings, guest logs and scrapbooks that offered just a peek into what the building and its collection means to the locals.
About 30 people, including borough officials and Lower Saucon residents, attended.
“It wasn’t just the residents of Hellertown. It was the residents of Hellertown, Lower Saucon and beyond. That is why the library was named the Hellertown Area Library — not the Hellertown Library — because it had to be recognized that this was a wider community effort.”Janie Hecker, Hellertown Area Library volunteer and former board member
Janie Hecker and Bob Pasternak guided the discussion, as they were a couple of folks who remain from the bunch who were there to make it all happen from the beginning.
“That’s the point we wanted to bring out tonight, which is an effort of a lot of concerned people who saw a need for a library and they worked together and they built it,” Pasternak said.
“It wasn’t just the residents of Hellertown,” Hecker said. “It was the residents of Hellertown, Lower Saucon and beyond.
“That is why the library was named the Hellertown Area Library — not the Hellertown Library — because it had to be recognized that this was a wider community effort.”
HAL fundraising, more
Hecker said she wasn’t entirely sure on the details of library services for area residents before 1989, but she saw from her research that people could get membership cards at Bethlehem Area Public Library, or BAPL, and other locations.
She mentioned a federal grant from 1981-83 that benefitted that resident access to BAPL, which she said spawned a referendum for Hellertown residents to make a contract with the Bethlehem location.
That failed for the borough, but Lower Saucon Township residents had their own official access to BAPL, Hecker said.
The founding members decided that it was time to take matters into their own hands for the sake of the borough.
"It was going to be a community center and the library all in one. The problem with that was the community center never really got off the ground, [with] any kind of funding program or campaign or anything. And they quickly fell behind the library folks and all the work they were doing to raise money.”Janie Hecker, Hellertown Area Library volunteer and former board member
Around that time, library founders got “walking around money” from the state in the amount of $50,000 to get the new library facility on its feet.
Founders at that time had opened a library at 528 Main St., in a building that’s known today as Adams Plumbing. Hecker and the gang soon found out that they had to use the allotted $50,000 for a new structure, not an existing one.
Priscilla Payne Hurd — local philanthropist as well as first woman board member and first chairwoman at Moravian College, among many other titles — had come through there at one point to see who was behind the new library project, Pasternak said.
She went on to anonymously donate $50,000 to the cause, he said.
She said they consulted with borough officials at that point, requesting a land donation in the undertaking. The local community center also wanted to delve into a new building, and its officials requested a land donation, as well.
“Originally, the thought was, ‘We’re going to build one big building,’" Heckler said. "It was going to be a community center and the library all in one.
“The problem with that was the community center never really got off the ground [with] any kind of funding program or campaign or anything.
“And they quickly fell behind the library folks and all the work they were doing to raise money.”
She said their fundraising efforts spanned a variety of ideas, including selling baked goods, puppets, hoagies, Easter flowers, hot dogs and offering bus trips to New York.
Later, the group wrote to alumni of the Saucon Valley School District, the Hellertown Woman’s Club and more, seeking donations and volunteers.
The borough eventually offered three potential locations for the new library branch: Water Street where a park now sits, New York Avenue across from St. George’s Episcopal Church and where the library now stands at 409 Constitution Ave.
Getting HAL off the ground — literally
In June 1991, the library board had a land lease in hand from the borough.
During the legal review of that lease over the next several months, Hecker said the group started Friends of the Library. Fundraising continued from then, and the lease was finalized in October.
Library officials had determined that building and furnishing would cost about $130,000, which led to a grant application frenzy from the team, Hecker said.
Then came time to find an architect, and the ensuing plans had a price tag of $5,000.
In May 1992, the borough paid their dollar to the borough for the land lease.
The group got a fire sale price on bricks for the library that ended up not matching the original building, Pasternak said.
“Connection to connection. That’s how we built the library.”Bob Pasternak, Hellertown Area Library volunteer
The team needed electrical power to put up the building frame, but didn’t have any money left to do it. One crew member ran an extension cord from his house, across the road and into a makeshift electrical box setup, Pasternak said.
He said assembling and erecting the frame as well as completing the drywall were the only two things for which the library team really had to pay to get the building on its feet.
The second-floor railings in the building have an interesting story, according to Pasternak.
Pasternak’s uncle knew of trees cut down by the local Water Authority. His father knew a guy through Bethlehem Steel who happened to be a cabinet maker on the side.
“Connection to connection,” Pasternak said. “That’s how we built the library.”
Library founders broke ground on site on Aug. 2, 1992, and construction began about a week later.
In the following days, there was the second-year celebration of the Main Street location of the library.
In the meantime, the team hired a lead fundraiser to help gather funds to finish the building. That remaining work included bricklaying, roofing, ceramic tiles, plumbing, heating and more.
The Hellertown Area Library's initial capital projects budget was $325,000. It's first-year operating budget was $50,000.Janie Hecker, Hellertown Area Library volunteer and former board member
Hecker said the library capital campaign fund at that point was $325,000. And if that was exceeded, she later said, that money would help the crew finish the mezzanine, the basement and the rest would be put in an endowment fund.
The library’s children's area came to fruition as part of an anonymous $20,000 grant, Hecker said.
Then came the Christmas celebration of 1992, where party-goers bundled up in coats and scarves because the heating wasn’t installed yet.
Hecker said about 300 people showed up interested in what was happening, sipping on coffee and keeping close to electric heaters while they celebrated.
Pasternak said a small music group performed on the second floor, while his father was back and forth the entire time trying to keep the circuit breakers in check.
Final touches
The first annual meeting at the library took place in May 1993.
Heating and cooling, woodworking, stucco, carpeting and the assorted “laundry list” of tasks were completed in the meantime, all before the library was closed Aug. 5 to move the books over from the Main Street location.
Officials reopened the location on Sept. 7. A library dedication date was set at Nov. 20, 1993.
The official budget for the first year of library operations was $50,000, Hecker said.
The first librarian was appointed in February 1994, followed by a handful of leaders in the coming years. Hecker spoke highly of Noelle Kramer, the library’s recent outgoing director, who took over in March 2020.
Where it all stands
Lower Saucon resident and Saucon Shenanigans author Andrea Wittchen on Monday spoke on a recent timeline of events regarding a potential library services agreement between HAL and Lower Saucon officials.
She referenced the contents of Lower Saucon Township Council minutes from March 3, 2021; April 21, 2021; Oct. 6, 2021;Jan. 19, 2022; and May 18, 2022, to name a few key points what she described as the derailing of the relationship.
Wittchen said "blood, sweat and tears" have been put into making HAL a reality. She said, at one point, the relationship was fruitful.
"I am so impressed with what was accomplished here in the '90s," Wittchen said. "And I understand so much better now why you are fighting so deeply to keep this a functional library."
"I am so impressed with what was accomplished here in the '90s. And I understand so much better now why you are fighting so deeply to keep this a functional library."Andrea Wittchen, Lower Saucon resident
Currently, Lower Saucon residents can buy a HAL library card with limited access, including use of the computers on site and children's programming, but no ability to make use of interlibrary loans or use the Cloud Library.
For that card purchase, the township offers a reimbursement program in lieu of no official hometown library agreement at the moment.
The council majority in Lower Saucon is pressing for a regional library "for the future," with an emphasis on a digital-focused format.
HAL had an Oct. 1 deadline this year to send an outline of its service area to state library authorities. That followed a Sept. 20 proposal from Lower Saucon Township, outlining potential library funding, ongoing litigation and access to borough amenities.
Because the library is a nonprofit entity separate from the borough, and because Lower Saucon addressed that proposal to the borough,library officials said they felt they hadn't received an independent offer.
Lower Saucon officials have argued that the courts have determined HAL is an agency of Hellertown borough, and the library must turn over emails and more regarding the library's finances at the request of private citizens.
