The western portion of this building was originally the Maryville Post Office. Construction was begun and the cornerstone laid in early May 1912. Built of Bedford limestone in Beaux Arts Classical style, it was completed in June of 1913, at a cost of $71,198. It served its postal function until July 1962, when construction of a new Post Office was completed (dedicated on August 3 by former President Harry Truman, wife Bess and daughter Margaret; it remains Maryville's post office to this day).
The first Maryville Public Library was built with a grant from Andrew Carnegie and opened in 1905 on the corner of 2nd and Buchanan Streets. By 1962 it was determined the building needed costly termite and roof repairs; in addition, there were concerns that the Carnegie building was too small to adequately serve the growing community of 8,200.
Meanwhile, the GSA declared the former post office building "surplus property." In October 1962, a library levy was passed by an 18-1 margin that allowed the library, one month later, to acquire the building at no cost. A contract for $27,778 was awarded to DM Fisher Construction Company to remodel the facility, including lowering the ceilings and installing fluorescent lighting.
On June 20, 1963, the library holdings were moved to their newly-remodeled home. Assisted by the Northwest Missouri State College library staff, the Maryville Jaycees and Jaycee Janes, the public library staff used specially-built "troughs" that allowed entire shelves of books to be loaded into a pickup truck at one time.
The Carnegie building was demolished in 1963, but the original columns still stand on the SW corner of 2nd and Buchanan -- although the plaque commemorates the first house in Maryville, not the library columns!
In the late 1990s, Library Director Diane Houston developed a vision of a renovation that would expand the size of the library and redesign the aging facilities. Through the generous support of the community, this dream because a reality, with construction completed in 2001.
The renovation, which removed the lowered ceilings of 1963, exposed astonishing vaulted ceilings, Povanazzo marble pilasters, and the intact Postal Savings Deposit (savings bonds) window. A conference room dedicated to Ruth Robb Price was created in part of the foyer area, funded and designed by her son, Phillip D. Roth. It features intricate painting and gilding of the pilasters, a breathtaking frieze of verses taken from Milton's L'Allegro, and Decoupage items designed and created by both Phillip Robb and Ruth Robb Price.
The former Post Office, in the guise of the Maryville Public Library, has morphed into a vibrant community center, encouraging patrons of all ages to interact with media in a wide variety of ways. Please enjoy your visit here.
Parking is available on the west and north. The elevator is located at the north entrance. Cache is placed by permission of Library Director Stephanie Patterson; full-time staff are aware of the cache, but be a sport and don't bother them for help.
Proceed into the building and do a bit of reconnaissance. The library is a nice cozy size; you can walk around the inside perimeter in about three minutes, so please do that. As you walk, pay attention to prominent displays, features, plaques. (If your compass doesn't work in the building and you need to get your bearings, the "Youth Zone" is on the west.)
1) Locate the restored Postal Savings Deposit window. It features several frosted-glass windows with glass lettering. One window contains just a single word. Count the number of letters and punctuation in this window. This single-digit number is CLUE A.
2) Find the Ruth H. Robb Price conference room. Try the door -- the room is often unlocked; if so, you should certainly step inside and marvel at the frieze of Milton couplets around the walls, as well as the artifacts displayed in cases. As you make your way through the Old English verse, count how many birds are actually mentioned by name. This single-digit number is CLUE B. (If by chance the room is locked or being used, it is still easy to find this clue by looking through the glass doorway and window.)
3) In the south reading area, near the newspapers, locate a T-shirt on display. Coach Ziegler coined the nickname in a four-digit year. The third numeral of the date is CLUE C.
4) Locate the impressive wall display recognizing the donors who made the library renovation possible. You are going to need to do some reading, but that's what libraries are for, right? Check out the names on the spines of all the books in this display. You are looking for the name of a dentist, and although more than one dentist contributed to the renovation, only one listing includes the professional initials "D.D.S." The 1st letter of the donor's first name is CLUE D. (If there are book-quarantine bins in this area, you will still be able to find the listing without touching the bins)
5) Locate the memorial plaque in the Young Adult area. The 1st letter of the first name is CLUE E.
6) Explore the children's area until you find a cozy nook with a very low ceiling. In here you will find a songbird in a cage. The 4th letter of the bird's name is CLUE F.
Fit the clues into the following formula (the layout matters):
A B C
D E F
Please use great stealth when signing the log because curious muggles will abound! And again, although there is plenty of room for treasures, please do not leave any trackables here because muggle children are likely to stumble on the cache.