A groundbreaking ceremony is held on October 15, 2025 for the Denmark Community Center & Library. (Photo credit: WLUK)
DENMARK, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Denmark is celebrating the start of construction on a new library and community center.
The more than $6 million project will also include a gym and fitness center, food pantry and multi-purpose community space inside the former Early Childhood Center building on N. Wall Street.
“Community studies showed that Denmark lacked physical spaces and programming to meet the community’s basic health and safety and civic engagement needs,” said Brian Anderson, a Brown County Library Board trustee.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Denmark’s Brown County Library branch, which was inside the high school, was closed as security protocol for the school increased. In the years since, the bookmobile made trips to the community and story time was held at the park shelter.
“People couldn’t look for their own books,” said Deb Kralovetz, the president of One Denmark. “They had to use the online resource of the library and then pick up their books at the village hall.”
One Denmark is a nonprofit that led the charge to bring back a brick-and-mortar library, along with the needed community space and a fitness center.
“Mostly people go to Green Bay,” said Kralovetz. “They go to the Y, the Kroc Center.”
A $4 million grant from the state is paying to renovate the bulk of the building.
“For a town this size — frankly, a town of any size — bringing people together and bringing organizations together for a project like this, I think is extraordinary,” said Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wisconsin.
$2 million still needs to be raised for the community center part of the project. Organizers say they’re well underway to their goal.
“We know that we can do it because we have so much community support and people are excited,” said Kralovetz.
The goal is to have the project done in October of next year.
The community center will be called the Community First Credit Union Community Center. The credit union provided $150,000 for the naming rights.
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