01 Jul 2023 Morrilton mayor announces Children’s Library expansion

Posted at 10:27 AMh in News by

By Mary Eggart

Surrounded by students from Sacred Heart School in Morrilton, Mayor Allen Lipsmeyer recently announced that plans are underway to begin the renovation of two empty buildings in downtown Morrilton that will soon be home to a new Children’s Library and Playground complex.

Janie Higgins, president of the Conway County Library Board, speaks at the ribbon cutting for the new Children’s Library and Playground complex in Morrilton.

The 10,000-square-foot building will be located on Broadway Street and will provide the children of Conway County with a library space that will accommodate children’s programs throughout the year. The playground and outdoor area, which will host events, will be constructed on the vacant lot at the adjacent corner of Broadway and Moose Streets, which is owned by the city. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. 

The library and playground are the result of a collaboration between the Morrilton City Council, the Conway County Library Board, Lipsmeyer and Kay Osborne, current owner of the empty buildings. Osborne, a board member of the Morrilton Pathfinders Club, generously donated the buildings to the city for the project. The mission of Pathfinders is furthering literacy and ensuring that children have ample access to books and other resources that motivate them to learn. Additionally, $400,000 for the building renovations and playground were donated to the library by Johnnie Momm upon her death in 2012. The library will be named in her honor.

The expansion could not have come at a better time. Due to a lack of space, the children’s activities and programs have often been moved to the nearby Presbyterian Church.

Built in 1915, the Conway County Library is one of two remaining Carnegie Libraries in Arkansas. Between 1883 and 1929, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie built 1,689 libraries throughout the United States because of his passion for literacy, books and reading, which indeed mirrors the mission of the Pathfinders Club.

The children of Morrilton and the surrounding areas have much to look forward to with the completion of the new complex, according to Library Director Jay Carter. During the warmer months, the outdoor space will hold events and activities like water days, movie nights with a large outdoor movie screen, superhero parties, and other special performances by entertainers. The space will also be outfitted with a small kitchen.

Carter hopes to involve more of the county’s preteen/teen population with special occasions like outdoor dances. He said being able to involve local youth at an early age, making them lifelong lovers of reading and libraries, excites him the most.