Wilson Branch Library, A Community Treasure, Turns 15

As the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, Luis Chavez-Brumell saw evidence that Courtland S. Wilson Branch Library was meeting its mission.

“One of our summer reading program alums was first in line for curbside pickup,” Chavez-Brumell recalled Tuesday night at the library’s 15th anniversary party outside its Washington Avenue home in the Hill neighborhood.

The celebration was an occasion for neighbors and librarians to reflect on all the activity that takes place at the branch, which has become a community center and a lifeline since opening in 2006.

Chavez-Brumell, who’s currently deputy director of the New Haven Free Public Library, was a classmate of the late Courtland Wilson’s grandson in middle school. He returned to the area with a graduate degree in library science, eventually rising to the position of branch manager at Wilson branch library in 2018.

The summer reading program, READy for the Grade, which aims to address summer reading loss in children from low-income families, was among the reasons that Chavez-Brumell was in a celebratory mood.

“We fought to have a public library here with that kind of program, and it’s important to take a moment to recognize a place that was built with community in mind, a place that tries to ensure equal access and opportunity, and that’s what Wilson was all about,” Chavez-Brumell said, referring to the neighborhood activist, mentor, and local politician who died in 2000. 

READy for the Grade is just one of hundreds of programs, from recovery meetings to tax assistance to Kwanzaa potlucks and community arts projects, that distinguish Wilson Branch library, according to City Librarian John Jessen, who served as branch manager from 2012 to 2017.

“This library is kind of like a GMO,” said Jessen, among the 40 staff, former staff, and community members in attendance. ​“It’s a genetically modified library, with a library on the top and community space on the lower level. That gives us multiple different rooms to host programs and multiple opportunities to have the community connect with each other.

As Jesson spoke, Marian Huggins approached to say hello.

“Marian started an amazing book club here” called Urban Life Experience, Jessen said as Aretha Franklin’s ​“Think” boomed across the parking lot.

Huggins, current branch manager at NHFPL Mitchell Library, shared a leaflet with images of the books the group read in 2020.

“This one is great,” she said, pointing to David Chariandy’s Brother. ​“Make it a point to read it.”

Branch manager Meghan Currey called Hill residents the ​“true owners” of the library.

“This is not just a library but a community space,” she said. ​“We are always seeking ways to empower the community, to beautify it, to make magic happen.”

She recalled how librarian Bill Armstrong came up with the idea of brightening the corner around the library with murals. The owner of Five Star Laundromat on 350 Washington Ave. volunteered two walls of his business. Then two neighborhood artists, Edward Smith and Alejandro Colon, inspired by the murals that went up, came forward to do another one.

“We’re here to facilitate all that, make that possible,” she said, as two kids engaged in a spirited game of cornhole nearby. 

Armstrong also initiated a sunflower program that involved giving away sunflower plants and seeds to the neighborhood.

“The project cost us about $60 for seeds and promotion,” he said. ​“It was basically, ​‘Come in, get free seeds, and plant sunflowers wherever you can in the Hill neighborhood’.”

The sunflowers, he said, ​“will pull toxins and heavy metals out of soil, making the environment cleaner, but mostly they’re bright and bring beauty and joy.” 

For library technical assistant Jeffrey Panettiere, it’s about ​“helping people leading really stressful lives,” including poverty, hunger, joblessness, and substance abuse.

That’s what prompted his idea to start a musical instrument lending library where visitors can borrow a ukulele, an accordion, or a keyboard.

“It’s nice to be able to offer them some fun,” said Panettiere, a musician, who cited the support of Hungry for Music. That nonprofit collects used musical instruments and donates them to underserved youth with ​“a hunger to play,” as its website reads. 

He recounted his conversation with someone who had just returned to the neighborhood after a long absence.

“The best part of moving back to the Hill is this library,” the person told him. ​“And the best part of the library is the people.”