MINNEAPOLIS - How many people can look back on a legacy that lines streets and sidewalks, cities and countries?
Todd Bol, the founder of the Little Free Library movement, died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 62.
We spoke to three Little Free Library owners who had the honor of meeting Todd Bol, carrying on the enduring chapter he started.
“He was a magical person,” said Marji Miller, of Southwest Minneapolis, an early adopter of the Little Free Library. Her neighborhood held a fundraiser to purchase the Little Free Library that sits in her front yard.
She proudly holds charter #277, of the now 75,000 little libraries in nearly 90 countries around the world. She remembered the time he showed up at her door to install her library on a February day. Together, they boiled water to melt the ground while Bol and a friend dug the hole for her library post.
“To have a part of him here is so nice, he has all over the world, parts of him everywhere, and I can’t imagine what a gift he gave to so many people, what an amazing man,” said Miller.
In the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, Elizabeth McDonald gave a little library to her wife, a voracious reader, as a Christmas gift. One day Bol showed up at her door too, impressed by their little library with a red roof to match their home. He gave them a book.
“If you are going to carry a legacy forward, what a legacy to leave, I am just proud to be a part of his legacy in a small way. Reading is a way to be connected to people, I love the Little Free Library specifically because every book that is put in there has been read by someone. There is something really beautiful about every page being touched by another person, reliving an experience someone else had,” said McDonald.
In the Victory neighborhood in North Minneapolis, Lyn Grigsby met Bol too, as a Little Free Library enthusiast who attended many related events to his movement. Grigsby and a close friend in Wisconsin proudly display matching libraries, crafted by a master woodworker. It’s become a beloved stop on her block, where children flock to page through a new treasure.
“He’s got to be the most successful businessman in the world because he’s brought so many people together in so many countries. Just promoting reading all over the world. He was just so down to earth and warm and friendly and really cared what he was doing. He will be missed by many,” she said.