Photo courtesy of Mary Buenrostro
A Woodrow alum and neighborhood resident have teamed up to create a Little Free Library that should look familiar.
Mary Buenrostro, a Mount Auburn neighbor, commissioned a Woodrow Wilson High School version of the small book depositories, which are small structures meant for book exchanges built in front yards around the world. Mount Auburn lacks nearby library access, she says, with the nearest library requiring the crossing of six lanes of Abrams traffic. She hopes her Little Free Library at 503 Grandview Ave. will encourage residents of the Mount Auburn neighborhood to read more.
When Buenrostro got the idea for the library, the city was debating whether or not they would allow these rogue structures to be built in front yards, which they eventually did. Buenrostro would attend Quality of Life meetings with members of the City Council and city staff, and she credits council member Adam Medrano with helping to make sure her library came to be.
The library, which has been up for about a week, was designed and built by Daniel Dutton, a 1998 Woodrow graduate and local artist. The handicap-accessible library is larger than the usual Little Free Library, with three separate compartments and a range of materials from adult novels to books for toddlers.
Buenrostro has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years, her son graduated from Woodrow in 1999, and she loves having a view of the iconic school from her front porch.
“The city was on a mission to get rid of them,” Buenrostro says. “But then they said we might have bigger problems than Little Free Libraries.”
