On November 22, 2025, retired maintenance engineer Richard Olson recreates history by standing in the same place he was photographed for a story that appeared on the front cover of the June 7, 1989, Northeaster. (Davis Steen)
The Northeast Library, 2200 Central Ave. NE, closed on February 24 of this year for renovations. On Monday, November 17, it opened back up to the public and a reopening party was held on Saturday, November 22, to introduce the space to the community.
“It was about a 9-month closure,” Peggy Woodling, a project manager with the Hennepin County Library, said. “We just quietly opened the doors on the 17th and the rest is history.”
Overall, the library looks similar to how it appeared prior to February 24, but a lot of work was done to update the library to match others in the system.
“The particular project was a lighter touch, as far as capital projects go,” Woodling said. “One of the things this building was particularly lacking was a smaller study room space.”
Two new study rooms were added, including one with a virtual conference room for people to be able to use a computer and take calls for various reasons. This service started at Central Library in downtown and has been quite popular.
“New carpeting, we freshened up the paint, the original public art is still the same,” Woodling said. “We tried not to just throw everything away. All book bins have been cleaned and repurposed.”
Over the two-hour event, many community members and library-goers filtered into the renovated space to get a peek at the public building that has been
around since 1973.
Of the attendees, notably, a retired engineer who used to work in the space was at the event with his family, reliving memories of the building’s early years.
Boilers, hammers and cat-sized rats
Richard Olson was a maintenance engineer with Hennepin County Libraries for 22 years. He appeared on the cover of the 1989 edition of the Northeaster while inside the Northeast Library. The original edition of that newspaper was being passed around by the staff and attendees to see how much the building has changed.
Olson is a long-time resident of Northeast Minneapolis. He remembers the building that predated the Northeast Library.
“I came to the old library as a kid, that was the Carnegie Library,” Olson said. “But they tore that down for this library.” The Carnegie Library stood on the same site as the current building from 1915 to 1973.
Olson told stories of the old boiler that he and a few workers had to take apart with sledgehammers. He also talked about the wildlife that once patrolled the outside of the building.
“They had torn down the houses beside the library, and the rats would come out,” Olson said. “They were as big as a cat, and I would wait and run into the library, and they would chase me down.”
The Northeast Library is now back to its regular hours. The building is open 9-5 on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and open 12-8 on Wednesday and Thursday and is closed on Sunday.
A family plays with the custom-made “imagination station” during the reopening party at the Northeast Library on November 22. The children’s area now includes a light table that changes play themes monthly. The newly completed teen space has a large magnetic board where young people can play games, create poetry and display art. (Davis Steen)