November 19, 2024, marks the Charlotte Community Library’s 130th birthday! To celebrate this special event, the Local History staff have put together a brief look back at the Charlotte Community Library’s history. (Please note that this is not a compete history. If you would like to learn more, consider visiting the Michigan Room and browsing our collection of historical materials.)
- The Charlotte Library Association was organized in 1890. The semi-annual fee was $1, and this entitled members to borrow one book and one magazine per week. Members also had a say in how the library was run.
- Non-members could borrow books from the Charlotte Library Association at the cost of ten cents per book.
- The Association’s library was hosted in a series of homes and businesses before moving into a permanent home. The library would move from place to place and had several different “homes.”
- For example, the library was housed in the courthouse until the board of supervisors decided to convert the area into the Drain Commissioner’s office.
- A permanent library in Charlotte was first established on November 19, 1894, when the Common Council levied a tax of ½ million dollars to provide a free Public Circulating Library and reading room to residents.
- The tax produced a sum of $1,090.00, which was used to pay the salary of a janitor and a librarian, rent for the room the library occupied, and 910 books.
- In 1894, Charlotte Schools loaned the Public Circulating Library 599 books, as well as a donation of that year’s school library budget.
- The yearly budget donation would continue until 1938, when the school district began to build its own, separate library.
- In 1902, the Charlotte City Council and the Library Board applied for $10,000.00 to Andrew Carnegie to build a dedicated library building. Mr. Carnegie agreed to give Charlotte $12,000.00 with some stipulations:
- The city of Charlotte had to pledge to raise 10% of the cost of maintenance each year. This was roughly $3,000.00 at the time.
- The city had to furnish a suitable site for the new library building.
- When the application for a new library was submitted to Andrew Carnegie, the Public Circulating Library had 24,579 books in circulation.
- Architect E. W. Arnold was hired to design the new building (the 1845 courthouse that had been occupying the space was moved elsewhere).
- The Charlotte Carnegie Library would be built between 1902 and 1903. The Carnegie library would open to the public on December 3, 1903, and be used until 1994.
- The former library has been the home to several local businesses over the years. At the time of writing, the building is for sale for the low price of ~$350,000.00.
- If you would like to visit the Carnegie library in person, the address is 200 North Cochran Avenue, Charlotte MI.
- A (potentially not so) fun fact – the Charlotte city charter required all appointive offices be filled by qualified voters, which meant that women were not allowed to serve on the Charlotte Library Board. When this was discovered in 1903, the women who had been working so diligently towards growing the library had to step back and let men take control of the Library Board.
- Eventually the city’s charter would be altered to allow women to serve on the Charlotte Library Board again; they were still exempt from all other offices until the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920.
- In 1986 The Charlotte Library Project, Inc. was formed to seek out a new location for the public library, and in 1987 a new building was purchased.
- The Carnegie library was sold for $75,000.00 and turned into a law office.
- The spot where the current library is located (226 South Bostwick Street) used to be a Feldpausch Grocery Store, but before then it was Wrigley’s Market (late 1950s).
- Renovations began in 1990 and were finally completed in April 1994. The new building was opened to the public in September 1994.
- In addition to 2024 being the 130th birthday of the Charlotte Community Library, this year is also the 30th year the library has been housed in its current building. That calls for double the celebration!
To close this article, the Charlotte Community Library staff would like to thank every member of the community for helping make this birthday so special. May the next 130 years be even better than the previous ones!
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