The Daniel Foundation of Alabama has granted Citizens For A Better Grand Bay a $25,000 grant for The Grand Bay Library, to be used for the children’s reading and activity area of the building. The Daniel Foundation has been a great supporter of the Grand Bay Library beginning with a $50,000 matching grant in 2015 which was matched by donations from within the Grand Bay community, from Friends of the Library and Corporate donations.
The Grand Bay Library is located at the site of the historic Grand Bay State Bank building (c. 1913), and when renovations are completed, it will be a Regional Branch of the Mobile Public Library. The location for the library is in the old Grand Bay State Bank Building on the corner of Freeland Ave and Potter tract Road in the Grand Bay Historic District. The Grand Bay State Bank was located in this building from 1913 to 1929. The front of the building was the Grand Bay Post Office from 1933 to 1975. The back of the building was the site of various shops over the years. In the 1960s it housed Bay Dry Goods and Azalea Real Estate Agency. In the 90s the entire building was the location of the El Cazador Museum, where local fishers pulled up treasure from the Gulf of Mexico. The upstairs of the building was the Grand Bay Masonic Lodge until they moved to their location on Grand Bay Wilmer Road.
The Grand Bay Library is being renovated in phases. The current work in process are repairs to the west windows on the building that face the Albert Freeland Grocery Store (Harper Pecans Store) and the purchase of awnings for the front of the building. The $5,000 grant for these improvements comes from Gulf Coast Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D), another great supporter of the Grand Bay Library project.
As soon an acceptable bid for the completion of the library is presented Mobile County will step in and complete the repairs and renovations to the building.
The Grand Bay Library still needs your support as we complete small projects on the building. We also need your help to plan our fundraising event for May 4th. Our next Friends of the Library meeting is Tuesday, March 11, at 6 pm at the Grand Bay Community Center. More information can be found at www.grandbaylibrary.com or Facebook, The Grand Bay Library.
