CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The landmark Craigmiles House, which now serves as the History Branch and Archives Building of the Cleveland Bradley County Public Library, is undergoing major restorative efforts.
The Ocoee Street facility, which served as the city’s main library building from 1923 to 1987, now houses collections of local genealogical and historical significance, including Civil War military records, court records and assorted manuscripts and correspondence.
In a recent meeting, library board members discussed the status of those projects and made plans for raising funds to do even more for the building.
“It is the most comprehensive project undertaken for the archives building since it was donated to the city for its use as a library in 1923,” library board Chairman John Hagler said. “The intent is not only to preserve the building, but to put it to very good public use.”
Hagler praised library trustee Bill Burch, citing his key role in organizing and monitoring assorted preservative measures on the building’s exterior, including cleaning and waterproofing the brickwork and removing and replacing a depth of mortar between the bricks.
The mortar replacement process, known as “repointing,” is intended to improve the structural integrity of the building, Burch said.
Burch expressed satisfaction with work so far, saying the brickmason “was doing a quality job” by taking extra effort to ensure that the new mortar’s coloration was consistent over the entire exterior.
The Foundation for the Cleveland Bradley County Public Library is planning to raise awareness and funding for the building’s restoration this summer, board Vice Chairman Phil Jacobs said.
Jacobs said he would like to include a guided walking tour of the History Branch and Archives Building as part of the awareness campaign event.
Hagler said the Tucker Foundation has awarded $150,000 to the library foundation since June 2014 for use with current preservation projects.
However, if the library foundation can raise $75,000 through public support by Dec. 31, the Tucker Foundation will award an additional $75,000, he said.
No tax dollars have been used in the archival building’s restoration efforts, Hagler said. All funding has been through private means.
“We’re beginning to pull out of the station on this,” Hagler said of fundraising efforts. “I’m absolutely confident we can do this.”
In related business, Burch reported that a realignment of a historic stone wall on the library’s main campus, which is located across the street from the archives building, has been completed.
The stone wall, which previously extended only along the corners of the Jarnigan House, the northern anchor building of the campus, now extends only down Ocoee Street “to create a common front off of our main viewpoint,” Andrew Hunt, director of the library, earlier said.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.