Washougal's Library Has Moved Around Downtown for a Century. Durgan Street Is Its Next Stop.
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
Washougal's library has packed up and moved four times since it started in the back room of a general store. On October 15, Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries broke ground on a sixth home at 222 Durgan Street. That is the first time in the library's history that a building has been designed for it from the ground up, on property donated to the library district for that purpose.
If you go looking for the library today, Thursday, October 29, you'll find it closed. Every FVRLibraries location is shut for a districtwide staff training day. It's a good day to look at where the building came from and where it's headed.
FVRLibraries keeps a branch history for every location. Washougal's entry reads like a list of downtown addresses:
Each home belonged first to someone else: a merchant, a private estate, City Hall, the city. The current branch at 1661 C Street is still owned by the City of Washougal. It sits inside the city's administrative complex and has served the community from there since 1981. It is about 2,300 square feet and serves a town FVRLibraries puts at roughly 17,944 people, using a 2024 U.S. Census estimate.
The list also shows that the library has never really left downtown. In more than a century it has moved between Main Street and the lettered streets, and the new site keeps it there.
The Durgan Street site is 17,250 square feet, and it was donated to the library district. FVRLibraries describes its location as "strategically located near the existing city hall complex." For the first time, the library won't be fitting into space designed for another use. The building is being drawn around what a library needs.
The new library will be about 14,000 square feet, roughly six times the current branch. According to the project page, that space covers things the current building has no room for:
From a building standpoint, the after-hours community room is the feature to watch. A room that can open when the stacks are closed has to have its own entry and its own security zone, and it has to be laid out that way from the start. You can't add that to a building originally put up for something else, which describes most of the library's past homes.
Hacker Architects designed the building, and Griffin Construction is the general contractor. In FVRLibraries' groundbreaking announcement, Laura Klinger of Hacker Architects said "the design of this library grew directly from conversations with the Washougal community," and the district says the building will reflect the town's connection to its natural landscape and rivers. The district expects construction to start shortly after the groundbreaking and the doors to open in early 2028.
This is another first. Earlier moves happened because a club, a donor, or the city had space to give. The Durgan Street building is costing $19.4 million, raised from many sources, and the fundraising isn't finished yet. Here is how FVRLibraries and the FVRL Foundation break it down:
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| FVRLibraries district funds | $9,000,000 |
| The Endeavour Fund | $6,000,000 |
| Washington State grant, after administrative fees | $2,168,000 |
| Anonymous donor | $1,000,000 |
| Friends of Washougal Community Library and community supporters | $832,000 |
| Still to raise | $400,000 |
The two largest pieces came in quickly. Last year voters approved FVRLibraries' first levy lid lift in 15 years, and in July 2026 the Endeavour Fund gave $6 million, the largest gift in the FVRL Foundation's history.
The $832,000 from the Friends, though, is the line that ties back to 1924. Volunteers started this library, and volunteers raised close to a million dollars for its next building. The Camas-Washougal Post-Record reported that the groundbreaking was a relief for Cindy O'Mealy, president of the Friends, after years when the project's future wasn't certain.
What's left is the $400,000 gap. At the groundbreaking, FVRL Foundation Executive Director Jenny Wilkerson announced a "Close the Gap" campaign to raise it. The Foundation's campaign page suggests gifts from $25 to $25,000 and says fundraising will continue until opening day. A donor board in the new lobby will recognize community members and donors.
The site was chosen to sit next to other civic projects. FVRLibraries describes the library as part of the City of Washougal's towncenter revitalization project, alongside planned improvements that include an expanded community center, a splash park, a dog park, and more public parking. The district's stated goals include bringing more foot traffic to downtown businesses.
The block is already changing. The Camas-Washougal Post-Record reported that on October 15, the same day as the groundbreaking, the City of Washougal and the Washougal Arts and Culture Alliance dedicated a new mural on the west side of the Washougal Civic Center, near the corner of Durgan and C streets.
Main Street, where the library began, also has a new arrival. Sonya Tuter has opened Savor & Steep, her first brick-and-mortar shop. It's at 1887-B Main St. It focuses on single-origin loose-leaf teas and offers tastings, events, and custom blends. The Post-Record's story on the opening summed it up this way: "Coffee is about getting the job done. Tea is about lingering on the journey."
For now, the library is still the branch at 1661 C Street, and its schedule runs as usual. Regular hours are Monday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is closed Sundays. Here's what's on the calendar after today's closure:
The Friends' events calendar has the details. You can buy dinner on Main Street on the 10th and help pay for the next building, on the same street where the Carpenter General Store once housed the town's first reading room.
When Dawn looks at a Washougal house, she starts with the building itself: its structure, its systems, and how well it has aged. Then she considers what's being built around it. If you own near downtown and want to know where your home stands before the Durgan Street library opens, Dawn Jensen-Beaudoin can walk through the property with you and put together a valuation based on its actual condition. Get a Free Home Valuation.
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