The former Jessie Hill School, current home of the Redmond Library, will not live to see 100.

Built in 1929, the historic building in downtown Redmond will be torn down next month to make way for a new, two-story library that will be built at the same location.

In the meantime, Redmond patrons will have to check out books, access the internet and do research in a smaller, less inviting space at 2127 S Highway 97 for the nearly two years of construction.

But once the new building is finished, Deschutes County Library officials say it will meet the needs of growing Redmond for decades to come.

The new building will be two stories, with an outdoor patio for community gatherings. For adults, there will be meeting rooms and co-working spaces geared to telecommuters. The largest meeting space will be able to hold 240 people. There will also be dedicated spaces for teens and children. It will be a net zero energy building, powered by solar panels installed on its roof. There will be a drive-up book drop and pickup. A Deschutes County ballot drop box will also return to the site once construction is finished.

“The number one thing people wanted to see in Redmond were interactive children’s discovery spaces, so that’s a big piece of this library,” said Todd Dunkleberg, director of the Deschutes County Library.

According to Dunkleberg, the library is working with an architecture firm that helped design exhibits for OMSI in Portland. Together, they will plan out the children’s spaces. He said there will be a number of interactive elements in the space.

Still, it’s hard to see Jessie Hill come down. Originally called the Redmond Grade School, Jessie Hill was the first modern grade school built in Redmond. It replaced a 1910 two-story wooden structure that sat on the same site. In 1948, the name of the school was changed to Jessie Hill School in honor of one of Redmond’s early teachers. It was converted to a library in 1996.

“Probably one of the hardest parts of this (is) that we will be demolishing the current building,” said Dunkleberg.

Library officials said they tried to think of ways to renovate the current space, but said nothing they could do would meet the growing needs in the area. Dunkleberg said the new building is likely to last for 50-100 years.

“Really what we’re designing it for and gearing it for is the future population that is coming to Redmond, knowing by the year 2040 we’re going to have a much larger population and that building will be able to serve that population,” he said.

In the meantime, the library’s collection will move to a building in the Redmond Design Center strip mall, near Wilson’s Furniture. The 5,000-square-foot space will remain open to the public throughout construction. Dunkleberg said they plan to move some of their programming and story time to other areas in the city.

The new library is expected to open in fall 2024.

The library is hosing a number of open house drop-in sessions to share construction details and answer questions.

Thursday, Dec. 8

8-10 a.m. and 4:30–6:30 p.m. (evening hours will have Spanish fluency)

Thursday, December 15

8–10:00 a.m.