Gelnett Library and Borough Building

The Pine Street School in 1934. From the Fasold Flickr collection

A library and the Selinsgrove borough offices have been located here since 1970. However, from 1790 until 1963 schools were located on this property. The best known school was the Pine Street School, which for many years was THE school in Selinsgrove proper (there was also a small school on the Isle of Que).  Indeed, when Anthony Selin laid out the town of Selinsgrove, he reserved the property on this site for churches and schools.

 


In 1790, a log school house was built on the northeast corner of Pine and High Streets. Other log buildings housing schools were built where Sharon Lutheran Church now stands and on the Isle of Que. These were either church or subscription schools, because at that time only the children of the poor received a public education in so-called “pauper schools.” In 1834 the Pennsylvania legislature passed the Free School Act, which permitted local political bodies to raise taxes to fund public education. This was optional for local governments, so that no township or borough in what became Snyder County (in 1855) established a publicly-funded school in the 1830s.

By the mid-1840s local opposition to funding public schools ebbed, and the school located at the northeast corner of Pine and High became a public school. In 1870 it was razed and a new, brick school building was constructed in the middle of this lot. This school replaced four others, three in Selinsgrove proper, one on the Isle of Que. It was destroyed during the Great Fire of 1874, and a new building was erected there two years later.

The Pine Street School as it appeared on a 1921 Sanborn Fire Insurance map

In 1922 the school on Pine Street was expanded with additions on the east and west sides. It had all twelve grades. In 1936 the current high school was built, and one year later grades 10-12 moved from the Pine Street School to the new building. The Pine Street School continued with children through the 8th grade until the fall of 1956, when Junior High students were placed in newly-built space in the High School. Then in 1963 the remaining grades K-6 moved to the newly constructed Selinsgrove Elementary school on North Broad Street.

The 1927 class for grades 1 and 2 at the Pine Street School. From the Fasold Flickr collection

The old Pine Street School lay vacant for two years and then was purchased for $1 by the Selinsgrove Borough in 1965. Shortly thereafter, it was razed, making way for a structure harboring both borough offices and the community library.

The Pennsylvania Legislature first made Selinsgrove a borough in 1823. The citizens in Penn Township, from which the borough had been carved, raised a stink because their tax base had shrunk. The Legislature reversed course.

In 1853, Selinsgrove was officially and permanently made a borough. Its first ordinance prohibited horses, cattle, pigs, and geese from roaming freely in the town. Initially, the Town Council had no permanent home, meeting monthly in various places.

In 1881, the Town Council authorized the building of a firehouse for the Dauntless Hook and Ladder Company on the southeast corner of Pine and Water Streets. Also a small jail and offices for the borough were in this building.

In 1931, the Council arranged for the Dauntless Fire Company to purchase the Fire Hall, its expense offset for ten years by a rental agreement. This permitted the Council to meet in the Fire Hall and have its offices there for ten years.

In 1944, the Town Council purchased a property on the east side of North Market street for a borough building. The property had been recently vacated by the Snyder County Trust Company, which had moved cater-corner across the street to the old Farmers National Bank building. It remained in service until 1970.

The first library in town was established by the New Deal’s National Youth Administration as part of a Community Center. It was located at 106 North Market Street, across from the Governor Snyder Mansion. In 1942, the NYA ended due to the war effort, and the library moved to the Masonic building at 112 South Market Street.  It remained in this space until the late 1960s, when the Masonic Lodge moved to take over this space for its auxiliary programming.

In November 1967, citizens in Selinsgrove voted to issue bonds covering the cost of a new community center for the library and new borough offices. The vote won by a margin of 63 votes. The new building was built on the foundation and with some of the brick walls of the old Pine Street School. It was a one-story structure.

The borough building in 1989. From the Fasold Flickr collection

The library and borough offices proved to be heavily used, became worn, opening the way for a funding campaign primarily focused on building a new and larger library.

The construction of the Rudy Gelnett Memorial Library in 2012. From the Fasold Flickr collection

In 2011, the library and borough offices were closed. Their activity moved elsewhere, and plans were made to enlarge and improve the facilities for both. In November 2012, the borough offices and what became the Rudy Gelnett Memorial Library were opened. The cost of renovation/rebuilding was $3.6 million. The borough facilities remained on one floor, but the library now had three floors, with the basement area dedicated solely to programming for children. The funds for this building were gathered from a state grant, part of the legacy of Rudy Gelnett, a Selinsgrove native and noted figure, and donations  by many local residents.

⇓ Watch WKOK coverage of the library ribbon cutting ⇓