MOORHEAD — Take a bow, Moorhead.
We did well.
The city’s new public library at 450 Center Ave. downtown, also known as The Loop, is a stunning example of what a mid-sized city far from Minnesota’s population center of the Twin Cities can do if its residents and local government decide to make a difference.
In 2022, voters overwhelmingly approved a half-cent sales tax by a 64% to 36% margin. Significant community input led project designers to include a walking track and children’s play area in addition to the usual library amenities like books, computers and meeting rooms.
The result is a $41.5 million gem that will be key to revitalizing downtown after the long-faded Moorhead Center Mall was razed.
I got my first look recently. There were mixed emotions.
The old library, a squat early-1960s design near the Rourke Art Museum and Moorhead Post Office, was a mainstay for the McFeely family. Our daughter went there regularly as a little girl to check out books and movies, attend story time, hang out. My wife and I used it often.
Remarkable things, public libraries. You check out a book, use it for free, and return it. On your honor. Millions of people take advantage of this unique arrangement every day, even as cell phones steal our brains.
The old library was Moorhead through and through. At the risk of offending my town — I went to Minnesota State University Moorhead and have owned homes in the city for almost 30 years — the old joint was functional but not splashy, blue-collar, old-school, in need of an upgrade.
It fit the chip-on-the-shoulder underdog mentality I’ve seen from so many for so long in the city. Not great but good enough.
The periodicals area of the new Moorhead public library at 450 Center Ave.
Mike McFeely / The Forum
The new place is spectacular. Something to be proud of. Good enough that the city slickers at a Minneapolis-based newspaper gave it a shout-out as a potential tourist attraction for our humble city of 45,000.
You walk in the front door to see a wide-open space with a ceiling two stories high, dozens of rows of beautiful books, a living room area with a fireplace, a grand staircase leading to an upstairs that features children’s books, a play area and a walking track. There are windows everywhere and they are large, filling the space with natural light during the day. There is an “entrepreneurial area,” quiet rooms and a large presentation hall that seats 100 or so. There are internet-connected computers for public use.
Moorhead thought big, swung hard and connected solidly. Home run.
There is much work to do on the site of the old Center Mall. Only the parking ramp and City Hall remain from that relic of 1970s urban renewal. The plan and the hope is the space around the library fills in with retail, coffee shops, apartments, bars and restaurants. The dream is that downtown Moorhead becomes a destination.
The new library is a stunning start.
The new Moorhead Public Library in The Loop opened to the public on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. Library services include books, movies and computers. New features include a walking track and a play space.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while he was a student studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He’s been with The Forum full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk-show.