LEWISTON – The Lewiston Public Library has received a $100,000 grant for its 13,000-square-foot Marsden Hartley Cultural Center addition under construction.

The Lewiston grant was part of the Maine Library Commission’s award of $1 million among 15 Maine public libraries through a competitive grant process. Twenty-five libraries had applied. The grant was approved under the Maine State Library’s New Century Bond Grant for Public Library Construction.

Library Director Richard Speer said, “We were extremely pleased to hear about this major grant award. I think it speaks volumes on both the quality of the Hartley Center Project and the growing importance of Lewiston in our statewide economy.”

The library addition is under construction in the former Pilsbury Building at the corner of Lisbon and Pine streets. With completion expected in May 2005, the center will include a performance/meeting room, a regional history center and archives, a computer lab and a conference room.

Speer added that the grant came at a welcome time, as the Friends of the Lewiston Public Library are raising funds to cover the final pieces of the project. An additional $91,000 is now needed to cover the remainder of the furnishings and equipment for the facility.

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