Elisha D. Smith Menasha Public Library reopens to public

Rich Palzewic

Staff

February 10, 2025

MENASHA – After seven years of planning and months of construction, the Elisha D. Smith Menasha Public Library has reopened after a $9 million renovation project.

Brian Kopetsky, director of the library, said the library (located at 440 First St.) was first built in 1969 and ready for some much needed renovations.

“We’ve been in the same building since,” he said. 

Kopetsky said the renovated library reopened to the public Feb. 8.

“It’s a very exciting time,” he said. “It was a long time coming, but it’s finally come to fruition.”

Kopetsky said Miron Construction, the contractor that worked on the project, “was phenomenal.” “I’ll be honest – when we started the project, we were shooting to get everything done right around the end of (2024),” he said. “Most people I talked to thought there was no possible way that was going to happen – that we could do all of the hands-on work in pretty much a six-month timeframe. Miron came through on everything – and then some.”

Kopetsky said while renovations occurred, the library was closed and moved to a temporary location on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus.

He said the temporary library was there from June to December.

“At the end of December, we were back in the building getting our collection back on the shelves,” he said.

A long time coming

Kopetsky – who has been the library’s director for almost four years – said he was mainly hired to spearhead the renovation project.

“The current renovation (plans) started in 2018,” he said. “At that time, the board did a strategic plan, and in that strategic plan, they recognized the library had to shift a bit to fit the needs of the community and, in our opinion, the needs for libraries in general. They recognized the need to pivot.”

Then, Kopetsky said, the plans were put on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the country.

“COVID basically stopped things for a couple of years,” he said. “During that time, the previous director decided it was time for her to retire, and then that’s when I was hired on.”

Kopetsky said the library officially launched its community engagement efforts (which included surveys, community townhalls and board meetings) in 2022.

“That’s when we started bringing community members in, talking to them and seeing what they wanted,” he said. “Then in early 2023, we received the initial report from the folks we were working with on community engagement. From there, it was a matter of finding funding and finding someone to back the project and lead the project for our community.”

Kopetsky said the 46,000-square-foot library renovation touched nearly every square foot of the building.

“Some areas were more major than others,” he said. “There were lighting changes, flooring, paint, things like that – basic stuff. We also added two new study rooms, a new conference room and two new meeting rooms.”

Funding

Being a department of the City of Menasha, Kopetsky said the city put forth $3 million for the project.

He said the other $6 million was donated/raised by various groups and individuals in the community.

“Initially, the project was anticipated to be about $8.5 million, but it ended up coming in slightly higher than that because we added a few things along the way – you only get one shot at making it the best it can be, right?” Kopetsky said. “By far, the biggest single contribution was from Menasha Corporation, which gave us a $3 million grant. Elisha D. Smith is the founder of Menasha Corp., so that’s the tie-in there.”

Kopetsky said the community “was great in rallying around the project.”

“Members of the Smith family also contributed,” he said. “Quite a bit of what came from the community came from descendants of Elisha D. Smith – they’re really carrying his legacy forward.”

Additionally, Kopetsky said Miron didn’t simply do the renovation – “they did much more.”

“Not only did they do amazing work, but they also contributed financially to the project,” he said. “They helped make it happen.”

The renovations

Kopetsky said the two most community-focused aspects of the renovation project are the SMITHworks makerspace and the Learning Kitchen.

Before the renovations, he said the makerspace was on the lower level of the library.

“Honestly, it was created as a proof of concept to see if there was an appetite for hands-on learning in our community, and there definitely was,” he said. “We served more than 6,500 people in the first 20 months we were open. With the renovations, that space moved to the main floor and almost doubled its size.”

Kopetsky said the SMITHworks makerspace establishes a place where people can come into the library and do hands-on activities.

“In that space, you can use tools not available to most people, whether it’s our recording equipment, 3D printers or laser cutter computers,” he said. “Also, pen, paper, paints, clay, etc. are available. It’s not just all about technology.”

With the Learning Kitchen, Kopetsky said the library was doing cooking classes before the renovations, but in a cobbled-together space.

“We would wheel out some tables, some induction cook plates and we would make do,” he said. “Now, we have a much more user-friendly and purposeful kitchen space, along with the big carts for people to utilize to work along with whoever is doing the instructions. Rather than just demoing things, we want to be hands-on. When we do a cooking class, people are cooking right along with whoever’s teaching it.”

Additionally, Kopetsky said more meeting space was added.

“We do a lot of library programming that requires meeting rooms,” he said. “We also have a lot of community organizations that meet here at the library. In 2023, more than 3,500 meetings occurred at the library. Up until the renovations, we really only had two legitimate meeting spaces. We had other spaces we would flex in to make things work, but adding gathering space was one of the big drivers (in the renovations).”

Kopetsky said there is a slow shift libraries are undergoing.

“It’s a slow process, but libraries are shifting from being a place for you to simply grab your materials and leave, to be more of a hands-on learning center compared to what it used to be,” he said. “The big changes you’ll see are the hands-on learning that can occur here.”

A Miron perspective

Tim Kippenhan, president/COO of Miron, said the company was brought on in spring 2024 to spearhead construction of the renovations.

He said the planning began with meetings with the City of Menasha, the library board and John Bergstrom – the driving force behind fundraising efforts.

Kippenhan said Bergstrom was instrumental in quickly finding partners to help with funding.

“We all sat down and outlined the process and said, ‘The library wants to get going and get done very quickly because they want to get back into their library,’” Kippenhan said. “They had to exit (the building during renovations), so we developed a very quick timeframe. We did design work from April through July, and then construction began in early August and continued until January.”

Kippenhan said it was an expedited process to deliver the project to the city.

“Everybody understood why we needed to go fast – it was a collaborative effort,” he said. “From the city down to the architect and all the workers.”

Kippenhan said Miron already had a relationship with the library from a past project.

“This whole area is our home,” he said. “We just felt it was important to give back to the community. The library is the pride and joy in the Menasha area, and it was the right thing to do for the community. We’ve been very fortunate as a company and always want to give back to our communities. It was the right cause at the right time.”