As the year opened, so did the county’s new library at 1100 Friend St.

The Hal Kohn Memorial Library, at 22,000 square feet, is more than three times bigger than the old one.

The library’s opening on Jan. 11 marked the end to the long story of the library’s creation. From the inclusion of the library project on the 2004 capital sales tax referendum, to the sometimes intense discussions of where the building would be sited, residents were always interested in the project. Several downtown locations were considered for the project, along with the notion of locating the library somewhere more accessible to the arteries leading into and out of the county seat.

The opening not only let eager visitors into the airy, expanded learning center, but also in on the secret identity of the county’s mysterious donor.

Verna Cavanaugh, Hal Kohn’s daughter, anonymously donated prime timber tracts to the cost of the project when it outstripped the money allocated from the referendum and that raised by the library’s Friends group. Cavanaugh’s gift was valued at $1.3 million. The library’s ultimate price tag was $4.5 million.