Library restoration to result in new Kohala Heritage Center
By Linsey Dower, June 19, 2023 - Honolulu Star-Advertiser (Reprinted with permission.) A small group of volunteers in Kohala is working to raise funds to restore the town's nearly century-old Bond Memorial Library. The group is called the Bond Library Restoration Project, and they have been restoring the building across from the King Kamehameha statue in Kapaau to transform it into what will eventually become the Kohala Heritage Center. "It's really a very historical little corner," said Christine Richardson, one of the leading volunteers of the Bond Library Restoration Project. "It served as a library from 1928 until 2010, and it has rich and deep community memory." Sharon Hayden and Richardson, who are spearheading the project, initiated the restoration about a year after the library closed. They understood the historical significance of the building and sought to turn it into a heritage center rather than see it deteriorate. "We want to tell the history of Kohala," Hayden said. "There's also never been a repository for any of the items that the older folks have." Two nonprofits, the North Kohala Community Resource Center and Friends of the Future, have served as the project's fiscal sponsors, helping to process the grants and donations the project has received, Richardson said. The restored structure will house resources for the community to learn more about Kohala as a historic town and the birthplace of Kamehameha the Great. Funding aside, Richardson said that one of the biggest challenges throughout the process so far was transferring the title of the property from the state to the Bond family, who were the original property owners before the library's construction . The transfer took about 11 years and $45,000 in legal fees, which [...]