West Indianapolis Library 40th Anniversary Celebration

The West Indianapolis Branch is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Saturday, November 7, with a full afternoon of programming from 12 PM to 4 PM. The current building at 1216 S. Kappes Street has been serving the neighborhood since 1986, and the day is built around that milestone.

Things kick off from 12 PM to 1 PM with History of West Indianapolis Library, a presentation by Digital Indy. It's a good place to start if you've ever wondered how the branch came to be. From 1 PM to 2 PM, the celebration shifts to a reception with cake cutting and a chance to mingle with current and former staff. There'll also be an 80s-themed craft and photos of the branch on display—a nod to the decade the current building opened. The afternoon wraps up from 2 PM to 3:30 PM with a dance party featuring music by DJ Jeffrey Crews.

If you're new to the area or just haven't looked into it, the branch has a deep history in the city. It was the fifth branch of the Indianapolis Public Library to open and is the second longest continuously operating branch in the system. Service began almost immediately after West Indianapolis was annexed by the city in 1897, and it moved into a new building in 1912—one of five original Carnegie Branch buildings, constructed with a $120,000 grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. The current 5,000-square-foot branch on South Kappes Street has been the one we know since 1986.

It's a four-hour stretch, so you can drop in for the history, stay for the cake, or stick around for the dancing. The West Indianapolis Branch is at 1216 S. Kappes Street, and the whole thing runs from 12 PM to 4 PM on Saturday, November 7.