Library building demolished to make way for new facility

The Fanwood Memorial Library, a center of community activity for more than 70 years, was reduced to rubble on January 3, 2023, the most visible sign yet of the planned construction of a modern new facility.

Library Director Dan Weiss watches in the rain

Library Director Dan Weiss stood under an umbrella in a driving rain, watching his home away from home be demolished.

“It’s bittersweet, for sure,” he said as an excavator operated by Messercola Company reached into the roof and walls of the building and tore it apart. It took a full day to reduce the building to piles of steel beams, dry-wall and concrete, all of which will be cleared in the days that follow. Tree stumps were removed earlier in the day.

Construction on the new library is expected to begin in the spring of this year. Completion of the new $8.2 million dollar facility is expected in early 2024. In the meantime, library operations have moved to Fanwood’s historic train station and museum on North Avenue. Most services offered at the old building still available to the public including an expanded catalog, free WiFi and computer use and many reading programs. The library is open six days a week. More info at https://www.fanwoodlibrary.org/