WEST PARIS – The Arthur L. Mann Memorial Library will celebrate its 80th year with an open house and festivities on Saturday, Oct. 14.

The public is invited to join the trustees and Friends of the library to celebrate the “little castle’s” first 80 years of service to the community.

The building, constructed of local fieldstones and crowned with crenellations, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a West Paris landmark.

The open house will be held starting at 1 p.m. The original drawings of the library by the Lewiston architectural firm of Gibbs and Pulsifer will be on display. There will be opportunities to win prizes.

The West Paris Historical Society, which is across the street from the library, will also open its museum doors for visitors at 1 p.m. The society will host the second part of the anniversary celebration beginning at 2 p.m. There will be music and speakers, including local historian Ben Conant and well-known storyteller and friend of the library, Joe Perham.

The architect’s drawings for the hoped-for addition, designed by Reed and Co. Architecture, and Mike Dean’s miniature replica of the castle library will be displayed. Those interested may purchase a $5 ticket for a chance to win the miniature. Refreshments will be served.

The town of West Paris has had a library since the late 1800s, but at that time one paid a subscription fee of 25 cents to be entitled to borrow books. The growing collection moved at least six times before it was given a permanent home through the generosity of the Mann family.

Lewis Mann gave the castle library to the town on Oct. 4, 1926. His father, Edwin J. Mann, had bequeathed land and $5,000 to build a library for the town and Mann himself gave an equal sum to the project.

In accordance with his father’s wishes, the library was named for his older brother, Arthur, who had predeceased their father. From the beginning it was a free public library.

There is parking behind the library in a new lot funded in part by a matching grant from the Maine Community Foundation. Part of the renovation and expansion plan, the lot can be accessed by Park Street, and there is a walkway to the library.

Neither the library nor the historical society has any photographs of the library under construction. If anyone does have pictures of the library being built, the 80th Anniversary Committee would like to see them. For more information, contact the library at 674-2004.