Today the Meriden-Ozawkie Public Library rents space in Countryside Square, a strip mall across K-4 from the rest of Meriden and from the schools. A child walking over after class has to cross the highway. In a 2025 JeffCountyNews.com report, that walk was called "a dangerous trek for kids."
The new building now going up fixes that first. More shelf space is part of it, but the bigger change is location. The building goes on the same side of the highway as the town and the schools, and its driveway comes off Miller Street, not the highway. The part of the plan built for big crowds, a community room, isn't funded yet. So for a while after the library moves, its largest events will probably keep using the Meriden United Methodist Church gym, as they do now.
The site was chosen for the walk from school
According to the same JeffCountyNews.com story, the new library sits on the west side of the highway, between Jeff West Junction and the Rock Creek Township Fire Station. Library director Drew Sams told the paper there "were many discussions about where the building should be." When the land next to the fire station came up for sale, the board "jumped on the opportunity to purchase it."
"We wanted children in the community to be able to safely access the building without having to cross the highway," Sams told JeffCountyNews.com. She added that the goal was "a larger, adequate space and a building the taxpayers will own."
Last April she spelled out the route for KSNT. The new library "will be in walking distance from the schools," with sidewalks kids can walk safely, and "the drive will actually be on Miller Street. So, it's not coming right off the highway." She said the library expects "a lot of traffic after school."
City Hall is planning for the same thing. At the August 11, 2026 Meriden City Council meeting, Mayor Andy Surritt asked about KDOT painting lines near Miller Street and K-4. According to the council's published records, he said the new library would bring more traffic, and Maintenance Supervisor Matt Williams said he would reach out to KDOT.
That intersection is where the move will show up first in daily life. School pickup, after-school library visits and regular K-4 traffic will all meet at one corner.
What the first phase actually builds
The project is split in two, and Phase 1 is the library itself. JeffCountyNews.com described it this way:
- Enough space for the current collection, which is nearly 16,000 items
- Two private study rooms
- An activity room that doubles as programming and flex space
- Workspace for staff
- Plenty of outdoor space
That collection number explains why the move matters. The library has had to weed its catalog "aggressively" to fit the rented space, and in the year before that February 2025 report, nearly 16,000 people walked through its doors, about one per item on the shelves. In its April 2026 story, KSNT reported that the district serves about 4,500 people from Meriden, Ozawkie, Ozawkie Township and Rock Creek Township, and that 50 to 80 people come in each day to check out books.
The table below shows where the money came from and how the reported cost changed.
| Piece | Amount | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|
| Community Development Block Grant | $650,000 | Kansas Department of Commerce, through a City of Meriden application |
| Community donations | Nearly $670,000 | Decades of local fundraising |
| Capital improvement fund | Balance of the total | Library capital fund |
| Total on hand, February 2025 | About $1.5 million | All of the above |
| Reported project cost, June 2026 | $2.1 million | WIBW |
The City of Meriden wrote the grant with the library and Brett Waggoner of Governmental Assistance Services. The grant terms set a two-year timeline. The bids came in close together. When they were opened on January 30, 2026, four contractors' base bids ranged from $1,911,997 from Icon Structures, Inc., the apparent low bidder, to $2,017,600. BG Consultants is named as the designer.
The nearly $670,000 in donations is the part of that table locals built themselves. Sams has credited much of the fundraising momentum to her predecessor, Jerie Tichenor, who worked at the library for nearly two decades.
The room that waits for Phase 2
The community room isn't part of Phase 1. It has been the goal from the start: a space inside the library that patrons and area residents could both use. When the board applied for the grant, though, it set Phase 1 as the library and moved the community room to Phase 2. The library's new-building page still says it is "still seeking funding to support a community room." WIBW reported the same in June 2026.
That matters because of how much the library does outside its own walls. In the year before the February 2025 report, it offered 261 programs, including book clubs, craft and cooking classes, holiday events, story time in both Meriden and Ozawkie, school outreach and club activities. The summer reading program has been held in the Meriden United Methodist Church gym. KSNT reported this spring that it has around 430 members.
"We have outgrown this space long ago, and we're only getting bigger and bigger," Sams told WIBW in June. "So we have to go to the Meriden United Methodist Church for a lot of our programming." Tichenor told KSNT that for story time crowds the church has been "very, very giving," and that "there's no way that we had room here."
Phase 1's activity room will bring more regular programs home. KSNT listed bingo, story time, crafting events and video games among them. For the events too big for that room, the community room is still the missing piece. Sams told JeffCountyNews.com the goal was to finish Phase 2 during Phase 1 construction if the community donated labor and materials. "We would love to use our own location in the future," she said.
Where things stand this winter
Until the move, the library stays in Countryside Square. WIBW reported in June that the current space had "a couple leaks" over the summer. Sams said she wanted to make sure materials "are kept safe," and added that "it doesn't function like a library should." WIBW's June report said construction was underway and that the new location should open by March 2027.
For now, the library's services are split three ways.
- Checkouts and everyday visits at Countryside Square, across K-4 from town
- Larger programming at Meriden United Methodist Church
- Donations for the community room through the library's new-building page
Once the doors open on Miller Street, kids from the schools will be able to walk to the library without crossing the highway. How many of the library's events can follow them there depends on how much the community room fund raises.
Here at Gateway Real Estate & Auction, we keep an eye on projects like this one that change the daily routine in our part of northeast Kansas. If you live near Meriden or Ozawkie and wonder how a new civic anchor on the school side of K-4 might affect your home's value, our Jefferson County page is a good place to start. When you're ready for a number, you can get your instant home valuation.
