DEXTER, Ore. – Dexter has no city hall, no city government. But it has a library.
A handful of local residents decided to pursue the unlikely dream of opening a public library in the city just outside Eugene. After six years of fundraising and digging into their own pockets, the small group scraped together a down payment on a former Lane County shop building just off Highway 58 on Lost Creek Road. They formed a board of directors, landed renovation funding and opened to the public in June 2002.
They outfitted the interior with furniture handed down from the old Eugene Public Library. Volunteers keep the library open by sorting and shelving books and maintaining the building and grounds. Area Eagle Scouts have added outdoor landscaping, a new sidewalk, a pedestrian walkway, a flag pole and a bike rack.
Based on their success at the Dexter Library, the volunteers who got it started are dreaming bigger. They have formed the Friends of the Cascade Foothills Library to work to improve library services to the area’s rural residents.
Today, the group is holding a celebration to honor the residents who helped charter the library and to draw future users.
The organization has used grants and trusts to run more than just a place for books but a full community library. The library has a winter reading program, poetry workshop, cartooning and bookmaking workshops. The foundation has also sponsored a “Card for Kids” program, which put a library card in the hands of more than 600 students at local schools.
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