Friends of the Manchester Library

In July 1947, Mary J. Sanford, owner of the Manchester Shopping Mart and member of the Kitsap Regional Library Board of Trustees, donated a corner of the store for a library. Quickly gaining community support, the library moved in 1948 to a renovated chicken coop, then to a small building at the Port of Manchester in 1954.

The Friends of the Manchester Library helped secure a grant for borrowed money from the Farmers Home Administration in the late 1970s and built the first phase of the permanent building, completed in 1980 – the loan was paid off with proceeds from Salmon Bakes. In the 1990s, the Friends secured a grant from Kitsap County that allowed them to add the Community Center. The Friends got to work again in 2022, expanding the library to create more reading and meeting space for patrons and refreshing the interior and solar panels for the roof through a grant from Puget Sound Energy.

The Friends of the Manchester Library own and maintain the Manchester branch, raising funds with a Father's Day Salmon Bake, plant sales, meeting room rentals, book store, and book sales. The Port of Manchester provides the property for this location, while Kitsap Regional Library provides the services, staff, and collections.

The library building operating expenses, repairs, and capital improvements are paid entirely by the Friends.  You can find out what is current with the Friends of the Manchester Library, their organization, and meetings at their website, manchesterwa.org

The Long Lake Garden Club and the Friends of the Library designed and maintained the beautiful surrounding gardens. The gardens are an active teaching space demonstrating water-wise, sustainable gardening techniques and showcasing local flora.

Books are available for purchase anytime the library is open, with payment accepted using the honor system. Several times a year, the Friends of the Manchester Library has a Saturday book sale of donated books in the Community Center.

Flowering plants and shrubs, seed packets and bulbs are on sale, with payment on the honor system (check or cash) in Blue Box at the library entrance.