May 17 - Bayliss Library holds grand re-opening

A grand reopening is planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the restoration of the Bayliss Carnegie Library. The 91-year-old library is at 7830 County Road 39, Bayliss.

The restoration was funded by Proposition 40 at an estimated project cost of $384,217. Using the original blueprints, architect Keith F. Long was hired to provide drawings that addressed both the restoration of the building and accessibility requirements. 

Contractor Robert Peters of Efficient Energy Concepts in Chico was awarded the job of restoring the library. When asked what interested him in taking on the project, he stated, “The main reason was my wife, because she used the library while growing up in Bayliss.”

This library site was donated by the Sacramento Valley Irrigation Co. The Bayliss Carnegie Library is listed as the smallest in the country, and it was one of the last made by the Carnegie foundation. In 2001, the library was commended as a point of historical interest by the state Historical Resources Commission.