Letter: Take the Time To Preserve 1913 Library Building 

I am writing in support of saving from demolition some of the original architectural features of the New Canaan Library version 1913 and incorporating these features into the new New Canaan Library version 2023. From my perspective, we are fortunate to live in a town where we treat each other with respect; we teach our children to treat their elders and friends and teachers alike with respect. We live in a bucolic environment where the community is invested in the maintenance of our way of life, the quality of our life, and the traditions that make this lifestyle so desirable and aesthetically pleasing. We fight for our schools and our school’s budget, our parks and sporting fields alike, and services to our community, our elderly and our frail. We do not mind paying higher taxes so we can support these qualities of life we hold most dear, while preserving them for our future recreation, our appreciation and our future generations in “next station to heaven.”

Our historical district on God’s Acre is a perfect example of this. We are lucky to have a town that appreciates the beauty of architecture from days past. Waveny mansion and Carriage Barn are additional examples of this priority and preservation in New Canaan. A few years ago, we planted a time capsule in God’s Acre, with the intention to recover it after a certain time lapsed for us to reflect on how life had been for us at an earlier time and to acknowledge how things had changed from then to now. Our wonderful New Canaan Historical Society on Oenoke Ridge in the historical district has brought several significant exhibits to our community recently. In 2019, WPA Art was highlighted.