The Gritters Library branch of the Cobb County Public Library system will close at 5 p.m. on June 17 in preparation for a long-awaited new building. Crews will remove materials from the library the following week.
During the construction of the new facility in Shaw Park, the Mountain View Regional Library will serve as the library for Gritter’s patrons. Mountain View Library is located at 3320 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta 30066, south of the Shallowford Road intersection.
The library is currently located at 880 Shaw Road.
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The name Gritters was taken from the historic militia district, organized in 1839, but the origin of the name Gritters for the district is not known. Speculation has been it was named after a grist mill.
According to a county news release, “The Library System calculates the Gritters service area now has a population of more than 62,000 people within a three-mile radius. Within a five-mile radius are five elementary, four middle, and two high schools.”
The current building was constructed in 1972 and opened in November of 1973, and over the decades of use, multiple maintenance issues arose.
The renovation of the building was included in the 2016 SPLOST, but it soon became evident that renovation of the obsolete structure was impossible, and a new building was needed.
According to an August 2021 news release from the county, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners accepted a $1.9 million grant from the Georgia Public Library Service to replace the obsolete and aging building.
According to a recent news release from the county:
“The new facility will house a new Gritters Library and a community center, featuring space for the county PARKS department, community meetings, and CobbWorks workforce development programs.
“The new building will cost $9.8 million, funded by a combination of the county Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), state and federal grants, and the county’s fund balance. The contractor for the design-build project is Batson-Cook Construction.”
About the Cobb County Public Library
According to the Cobb County Public Library website:
Cobb County Public Library is a 15-branch system headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, where its staff members serve a diverse population of over 750,000 people. Cobb is one of Georgia’s fastest-growing counties, and Cobb County Public Library is dedicated to being a resource center in the community by providing equal access to information, materials, and services.
History of Cobb’s library system
The first public library in Cobb County was opened in the home of Sarah Freeman Clarke in Marietta. The first standalone library building, opened on Church Street in 1893 and was named for Clarke.
Libraries were opened in Acworth and Austell in subsequent years, and in 1959, the city of Marietta and several other Cobb County libraries combined to form a countywide system that began the Cobb County Public Library as we know it today.
You can read more about the history of the Cobb County Public Library by following this link.
