BROWNFIELD – The Brownfield Public Library will benefit from federal housing grants to help pay for moving the historic Quaker building downtown and to modernize library services.

The grants were announced in a joint statement by U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

“This grant funding will help make the Brownfield Public Library more accessible, and provide it with a stronger foundation for years to come,” the senators said in a their statement.

The $7,548 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will pay for part of the cost of moving the existing Brownfield Public Library on Hampshire Road to a more convenient location closer to downtown.

A drive has been on for several years to both save the existing building, which was once used by the Quaker Society, and to provide a more modern, more accessible library, said building committee member Irving Potter.

The Quaker building will be moved to a location between the fire station and the Robert Bean monument in the downtown area, and will eventually serve as an annex to a new, modern library, Potter said. A capital drive is under way to raise between $200,000 and $300,000 needed to add on to the existing historic structure and make it a modern library, complete with Internet access, library research facilities and a community meeting room, he said.

The latest USDA funding in Brownfield bolsters more than $35,000 in grant funds awarded in 2000 as part of the effort to move the Quaker building. The building will be placed on a new foundation, and be made handicapped-accessible as required by law.

Snowe and Collins also announced that the USDA recently issued a $1,522 grant to the Child Health Center of Norway to repair rotting steps at the back of the building, which is on lower Main Street. The money will also be used to stop window leaks and repair rotten frame and trim, and to replace a run-down storage shed, build storage shelves for the preschool and replace flooring in three rooms.

The Child Health Center preschool serves infants and children ages birth to 5 through a nursery school, summer program and other activities.

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com