The historic Sally Stretch Keen Memorial Library – also known as the Vincentown Library – is continuing efforts to raise funds for a matching New Jersey Historic Trust Fund received in 2022.
Individuas can purchase an engraved brick by Nov. 1 that will line the library walkway of the library.
In its winning matching grant, the Keen library was described as a key contributing resource to the Vincentown Historic District, listed in the New Jersey and National Registers for Historic Places for significance as an agrarian commercial center in rural Southampton Township.
That’s why when library staff learned they had won a matching grant from the trust fund for $85,622, they were beyond grateful.
“This matching grant will allow us to do much-needed work to ‘seal the envelope’ and preserve the library building for future generations,” a post on the library’s website says. “We cannot do our work without a sound building and are fortunate to have a beautiful, historic building in our wonderful town.”
The 2022 grant will help fund interior and exterior preservation at Keen, a key contributor to the Vincentown Historic District.
The library was built in 1923, gifted to the community from Mary Irick Drexel and endowed in memory of her mother and prominent local resident Sally Stretch Keen. Designed by noted Philadelphia architects Stewardson and Page, the small, one-room library incorporates elaborate Georgian Revival details; a central front door flanked by sidelights; and a large rear Palladian window, according to the library’s website.
The library also set up a donation website for its current brick campaign to raise funds for a matching grant.
For more information, visit vincentownlibrary.org.
