After a decade of dreaming, Menan’s new library is finally breaking ground

MENAN – A project 10 years in the making is finally moving forward.

The Friends of the Menan Annis Grant Library — a nonprofit raising funds for the library’s construction — is breaking ground on the building on Aug. 1. The 7,500-square-foot building is being built in a one-acre field at 3550 East and 665 North east of the Menan City Park.

Nonprofit Vice President James Zolman tells EastIdahoNews.com construction is slated to last about a year. He says he’s excited to see this project finally come to fruition.

“It’s definitely been a long time coming and we’re excited to be working our way through the permit process, wrapping up engineering plans and finally building something that a lot of people have worked so hard for over the last 10 years,” Zolman says. “It’s not going to be an empty field anymore. We’re building. We’re so grateful to be at that point.”

The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. Zolman and his wife, Megan, worked with a team of film students at Brigham Young University-Idaho to produce a fundraising documentary about the library (watch it in the player above), which they hope to show at the Menan Town Hall that morning. He’s also planning to set up tables and get local authors to attend and sign autographs.

Shovels will be set up across the lot for a ceremonial turning of the soil. An artistic rendering of the building released last year is included above.

Zolman says the timing of construction couldn’t have come at a better time because the lease for the current library — a 1,500-square-foot trailer behind Midway Elementary in Menan — expires in 2027.

“Luckily, the school is willing to work with us,” Zolman says. “They’ll let us stay there until the new building is done.”

The Menan Annis Grant Public Library is one of three libraries in the Jefferson County Free Library District. Had this project not gotten underway when it did, library district trustee Laurie Willmore told EastIdahoNews.com in 2025, the closure of the Menan library would have dissolved the library district.

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The district began raising funds for a new library in 2017. From the beginning, the goal was to make it a community-driven effort, rather than trying to pass a bond. To date, Zolman says they’ve raised $500,000 for the project through grants, in-kind and cash donations. A total of $2 million is needed to pay for it.

Central Fire District in Jefferson County donated the land to the city years ago for the project. Zolman says Isaiah Womack with Aspen Architecture, and Greg Nelson, a general contractor with Northern States Development, grew up in the area and have donated a significant portion of their services towards its completion.

RELATED | Funding woes slow efforts for a new public library in Menan

“This community is really coming together, and we’re so grateful for it,” says Zolman. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we reached more than half a million dollars in in-kind donations, plus all the grants and private donations that will come together over the next year.”

Building on a founder’s vision

Lack of space and an increase in the number of library patrons are the main factors behind the need for a new library.

The Menan Annis Grant Public Library has operated out of its current building since 2002. Prior to that, it shared space with the school library.

“It’s been 40 years since the Menan Library was established,” trustee JoAnn Jones told us in 2022.

RELATED | New public library needs design, grant funding before construction can begin

Trustee Linda Radford said that Norma Eames founded the library in the old rock schoolhouse in Menan many years ago. Eames — who passed away in 2017 at age 90, according to the documentary — was a teacher and had shelves in her classroom for a small collection of books. The documentary Zolman helped produce about the library pays tribute to her.

When Midway Elementary was built in the late 1960s, Eames was instrumental in making sure there was an entire room devoted to a library.

“In the mid-1970s, there were some people who got together and decided there was a need for a public library. So they got a petition, and if they got so many signatures, they could establish a public library and begin to get funds from property taxes for it,” Radford says.

When the library moved to its current building, Willmore recalls doing storytime with a small group of kids in one corner. Now, it takes up the entire front room.

Inadequate space has led to the cancellation of several programs — such as pre-kindergarten reading activities and book clubs — in recent years.

Willmore says the library is the heart of the community, and she doesn’t want it to become a thing of the past. She enjoys watching families visit the library and get excited about checking out books. Her desire is to preserve that for future generations.

“A library is more than just books. We want to keep the books there, but we want to enlarge all the services that go with it,” said Jones.

Eastern Idaho Public Health and other groups frequently utilize library space for meetings, and trustees say having a space available for the community is another point in favor of a new library.

‘A lot of good can come from having a library’

Years after the library district began hosting fundraisers, the Zolmans — who live across the street from the current library — got involved last year.

James is a digital marketer by profession, and Megan runs the finances for her family’s farm. Megan, whose maiden name is Watson, has deep roots in the community. The Watsons have lived in Menan since 1883, according to James, and operated a grain mill. The building that houses Teton House, a popular Menan restaurant, was once the home of Watson’s Bar.

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James says he lived in 36 homes before he was 12 and didn’t have roots anywhere. The couple has lived together in Menan since 2003, and their ties to the area motivated them to give something back to the community.

Books are also a passion for the couple. James says they read 40 to 50 books a year between them and libraries have been an integral part of his life since he was a kid, a point he discussed on camera in the documentary.

“I saved up all my earnings from a newspaper route, and I bought a 1948 Ford Coupe. It was a rust bucket … and nothing worked. I was 12 and living in Nebraska at the time and would ride my bike to the library and look up how to restore a vehicle,” James said. “Knowing where to go to find knowledge — I don’t think I’d be who I am today without that experience.”

In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com later, James said that literacy rates at Midway Elementary have dropped significantly since the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, and having a larger space with access to books will help boost reading levels.

“We were in the 60th percentile before COVID. After COVID, we were in the 40s and now we’re in the 37% range,” James says. “Lack of literacy is a problem … but we have so much potential here. A lot of good can come (from having a library) in a rural community.”

He’s asking the community to get involved. Support the project, join the Facebook group and make a donation through the website.