New Hanover County was outgrowing another library location by the 1970s. A movement started in 1976 to make a new library a reality, but it took a department store to help finish the vision.
According to a story in the Sept. 6, 1978, Wilmington Morning Star, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners announced the county's purchase of the Belk-Beery property as the site of the new county library. The county was set to pay $500,000 for the downtown building and surrounding parking areas.
The agreement included allowing the store to stay rent-free until it relocates to the new Independence Mall in 1979. In the meantime, the library would remain at the former Wilmington Light Infantry Building on Market Street, its home since 1956.
Considering
a $2 million facility was proposed a year earlier -- and ballooned to around $2.5 million in 1978 -- it marked a big savings. However, significant structure work would be needed to handle the weight of the books. After Belk-Beery's departure in 1979, the site would be ready for a library in two years, a deadline that was met.
County officials expected it to serve county library needs for the next 50-100 years.
That projection did not hold. The former Belk housed the library for 44 years until moving to a new building at the corner of Grace and Third streets in 2025, which it shares with the Cape Fear Museum.
Owen Hassell is the local news editor for the StarNews. You can reach him at ohassell@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: From the archives: New Hanover County takes a 'Beery' good library deal
