Cass County Public Library has acquired the property located at 101 South 7 Highway in Pleasant Hill that will become a new library branch for the community. With renovations and upgrades to the existing building on the property moving forward as planned, the library looks to relocate the branch currently open on Route 7 in the Village Center South shopping center by June 2023.

The library is working with the architecture firm Clark & Enersen to design a modern library space and will solicit bids for construction companies in Spring 2022. The building, previously in use as the Pleasant Hill Bank and then Goppert Financial Bank, has great potential for a library design to serve the community that the current branch lacks, including a community room, study rooms, a drive through service window, dedicated youth space, and outdoor seating.

The passage of Proposition L in 2020 has enabled Cass County Public Library to upgrade many community services across the county’s six physical locations. Patrons now enjoy enhanced internet access via high-speed Wi-Fi, modern computers, expanded collections, and new furniture at all branches.

The purchase of the Pleasant Hill branch is a first for Cass County Public Library, as it currently leases all other locations.

“This new Pleasant Hill location will add meeting rooms and dedicated spaces for all ages,” Dan Brower, library director, said in a statement. “We will provide a library that Pleasant Hill residents and the surrounding community will be proud of. This location gives us the ability to customize the property to the library’s expanding needs in the future. Owning our own building will be fantastic and is a new challenge we are ready to take on.”

The library currently owns property further north on Highway 7, gifted by Mary Margaret Ledwidge, a long-time resident of Pleasant Hill, library trustee, and prominent member of the community. The library intends to sell the land and use the proceeds to help fund the new location.

“Mary Margaret Ledwidge meant a lot to this community, and her generosity to the library will not go unnoticed,” Brower said. “Ms. Ledwidge will be recognized and honored in the new library.”