On Monday, Gwinnett County, the city of Lawrenceville, and other local partners celebrated the grand opening of a themed library that revitalizes the historic Hooper-Renwick School building. The 27,327-square-foot Hooper-Renwick Themed Library will offer library services, community areas and exhibits honouring the school's history and the narratives of its students and staff, according to a report by Gwinnett County.
Hooper-Renwick School once stood as the sole public high school for Black students in the Gwinnett County system. The project includes not just library amenities but also space dedicated to community and educational activities, and it preserves significant portions of the original building. Among these retained features are the school's original façade, exposed rafters, and the gym floor that now serves as upper-level exhibit flooring. Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson highlighted the library's role, stating “Today, we’re cutting the ribbon on a gateway to understanding, reopening a space for learning and inviting all to share in our hope,” as noted by the Gwinnett County website.
The initiative to preserve the Hooper-Renwick School was driven by a local alumni group and stakeholders who, in 2017, formed the Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee. The effort aimed to honor the legacy of the school as a center of education and community pride during a time when access to such opportunities was not a given for everyone. "Hooper-Renwick has always been more than a building; it was a beacon of hope, education and pride for our community during a time when opportunity wasn’t always within reach for everyone," Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee Chair Coni Brown, herself a former student, told Gwinnett County.
Funding for the library project came from multiple sources, including $18.8 million from the County’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, and $1.7 million from Lawrenceville, which also offered the 3.8-acre site along with additional infrastructure support. The renovation represents a collaborative effort, as Lawrenceville Mayor David Still emphasized, citing the partnership with the city, county and the Gwinnett County Public Library System as key to the project's success.
With its doors now open at 56 Neal Boulevard in Lawrenceville, the Hooper-Renwick Themed Library marks a significant milestone. It is the first of its kind in the Southeast and promises to be a place where, as Gwinnett County Public Library Board of Trustees Chairman JT Wu expressed, “The Hooper Renwick Library is about remembering our past while reaching forward toward our future — and offering every person who walks through these doors the tools to dream, to read, to imagine and to thrive,” as obtained by the county's website.
