For years, passersby stopped on West Pearl to admire the size of a nearly 150-year-old cottonwood tree just past 8th Street.
The beloved cottonwood was a longtime neighborhood landmark, the last of a series of old trees that populated the area. Families once joined hands and stretched their arms around the huge trunk. When the city cut the dying tree down in 2022, it prompted protests. Now, the stump has a second life: A Little Free Library.
The stump’s transformation is thanks largely to resident Chess Piccione, a volunteer for Little Free Library, a nonprofit that works to expand book access and build community through small neighborhood libraries.
“I happened to be walking past with a friend of mine who’s a tree trimmer. One email led to another, and here we are,” she said.
Piccione reached out to the city to pitch the project in October, citing inspiration from a Little Free Library in East Boulder that homeowners built in the stump of a large elm tree.
“I spoke to the forestry department, historic buildings — everybody in city hall, more or less, had to sign off on this thing,” Piccione said.
“We normally do not allow sections of trees to be repurposed as art or other features in the public street rights of way,” said city Parks and Recreation spokesperson Kate Hernandez. “However, this was a unique case as the tree was historic and meant so much to our neighbors!”
The city agreed to allow the project as long as Piccione got the permission of Kate Remley and Dylan Williams, owners of the adjacent historic Arnett-Fullen House, which has stood alongside the old tree for over a century. The house’s first owner, Willamette Arnett, planted 10 Cottonwoods when the home was built in 1877, according to Remley.
The 149-year-old house’s striking gables and intricate woodwork earned it the nickname “The Gingerbread House,” and inspired the setting of the 1978 horror novel The Mirror. The house was landmarked in 1990, and was purchased and rehabilitated by Historic Boulder soon after. The nonprofit used it as offices for 12 years before selling it to Remley and Williams.
The little library’s roof mirrors that of the Arnett-Fullen House, with steep sides and the same distinct tri-colored tiles. It is also home to a copy of The Mirror.
Remley said they were immediately “totally on board” with the plan. “We love those trees more than anything,” she said.
“I just think it’s remarkable how much detail and how much care Chess put into the whole thing,” she said. “Its slate tiles match the ones on the tower so perfectly, and then the shelves inside are made out of cottonwood pieces — every little detail is just beautiful. I think she really created something special there.”
Over the last few months, the cottonwood’s little library came to life. Piccione hired contractors and tree specialists — Elite Construction, the DeMatteo Family and Langley’s Tree Specialist — to build the library. In addition to the matching roof, the library features a small skylight and several shelves made from repurposed wood.
“If there are people who moved away from Boulder and they come back to see the tree, I feel like this is just gonna be so much nicer than a sad little stump,” Piccione said.
She doesn’t expect the library to last more than 50 years, at most. “We do what we can — but it’s wood,” she said.
In the meantime, the neighborhood has embraced it.
Last week, books filled the library’s shelves for the first time. While Piccione added a few books, she said most were dropped off by neighbors. One stack came from a Little Free Library owner in Longmont — a gift welcoming the new library to the network.
On a sunny afternoon during the library’s first week, people walking down Pearl Street admired the stump’s new look, sometimes pausing to open its door and sift through the books inside.
“Coolest little library ever, huh?” one said.
Remley, who watches the library’s traffic from her garden, said this is par for the course.
“There is just a nonstop parade of people looking in and taking books, putting books,” she said. “People are pulling up in their cars and unloading handfuls of books into the library daily. It’s really extraordinary how the neighborhood and passersby have just immediately fallen in love with it.”
