LITTLE BOSTON — The small, humble building that houses the vast knowledge books provide will soon fade into the background. The newer building will boast the same number of books, but also more room for the whole community. It seems fitting that the final building in the Port Gamble S’Klallam House of Knowledge complex will ne its library.

Tribal chairman Ron Charles spoke of small beginnings for the tribe growing into a wealth of opportunities during the Tuesday groundbreaking ceremony for the $936,000 project.

“This was supposed to start out as a meeting room,” said Robin Cameron, deputy director of public services for the Kitsap Regional Library, noting that once the idea was presented, it grew until it was a brand new library building. “I hope this is a testament to learning.”

In addition to tribal council members and library employees, the ceremony was attended by the S’Klallam Singers, which performed two songs for the occasion, and behind them, local children gathered to watch their future take shape.

Little Boston Library Branch Manager Suzanne Jones was beside herself with happiness. She witnessed the opening of the current library building in 1989, and said she is thrilled to be a part of the newest installment.

The original A-frame that housed the library in 1974 was even smaller than the current house of books. In both buildings, there was little room for much else besides books and a few people. The newest library will house not only books, but also art work by the S’Klallam Tribe.

“The tribe has some pieces picked out,” Jones said, noting that it will add to the feel of the new library, hopefully bringing in more patrons. “New buildings always bring in more people.”

The current library provides books to the approximately 22,000 from Little Boston, Hansville, Eglon and other nearby areas. The newer building will provide more community space to those residents. And those neighbors proved they wanted in when they rose to the challenge of raising funds for it.

“This building was the most difficult to raise funds for,” Charles said in his opening remarks.

He said through the help of the community, tribal and otherwise, and grants the tribe was able to raise the money to start work on the much anticipated structure.

The original Little Boston Library was the first library built on a tribal reservation in Washington state, Charles said. He reminisced back to when he was young and a mobile library first came through Little Boston. He described it as looking like a home on wheels, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it at first.

“It turned out to be a book mobile,” Charles said. “I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I liked to read, and most of the time we didn’t have reading material.”

Charles said at first he thought the book mobile would leave, and take the books away with it. When it didn’t, his excitement over the books grew.

Charles went on to describe how he couldn’t believe the library would let him borrow books and took extra care of each one, just in case there was some kind of catch.

The Little Boston library has come a long way since then, he added.

Tribal council members, joined by Cameron and Jones, enthusiastically dug into the hard-packed sandy soil. Though only a few shovels were pried from the ground, the group gathered was focused more on the celebration of the completion of learning in the S’Klallam community.

“I am absolutely thrilled for this library,” said KRL Interim Director Carol Schuyler. “This has been a dream we’ve had for a good many years.”