Ludington Public Library - Mid History

Mid History

Earnest interest to rebuild a new Ludington library was kept alive in the 1890s by a group of women that had an organization called the Pere Marquette Literary Club. They first made contact with Andrew Carnegie around 1903 concerning obtaining funds for the construction of a new library. At this time various people offered sites that they would sell for prices ranging from $1,000 to $1,500. Some of these sites were at the corners of Harrison and Loomis as well as Rowe and Court streets and on Ludington Avenue, Emily Street, and Charles Street (now Rath). There was a lot of controversy over the selection of the final library site. The city mayor of the time, Warren A. Cartier, recommended that the matter of "petty jealousies" be worked out and that deciding on the final site location would be brought up again in a later meeting.

The Pere Marquette Literary Club worked on obtaining the grant from the Carnegie Institution for construction of the new Ludington library. Carnegie wrote back a letter saying that as soon as the city council decided on a free site and could guarantee it then funds would be appropriated. On September 6, 1904, the city council had a meeting and voted to close the deal with Charles G. Wing for the 90-foot (27 m) lot at the corner of Ludington Avenue and Rowe Street, site of the former newspaper office of the Ludington Appeal. They then proceeded to complete the arrangements with Carnegie for the construction funds of $15,000 for the library.

At a city meeting on February 6, 1905, the city approved the plans for a two story building that would take advantage of Carnegie's funds. The building was designed by architect Edward Lippincott Tilton, who was suggested by Carnegie himself. The building was to have reading rooms, cloak rooms, and a lecture room on the second floor. The Ludington Carnegie library building was declared as the library that will last a thousand years.

The current Ludington Public Library was constructed where the "old Appeal building" once stood. The contractor builder John Anderson received the contract to build the new Carnegie library in 1905. His was the lowest general contractor bid of $11,380.33 of the 6 bids received by the city of Ludington. The local Ludington newspaper then reported the minutes of the city council showing that the plans for the new library and its construction had been approved.

In 1905 Ludington received one of the 53 grants given to Michigan communities from Andrew Carnegie for the construction of libraries. He had a special program that gave grants that would cover the cost of the construction of free public access libraries under certain conditions. A Carnegie Grant of $15,000.00 and matching funds from the City of Ludington was put forth to build and support the new library that exists to this day.

Andrew Carnegie distributed over 40 million dollars given in grants to United States communities to erect 1,689 libraries. The conditions for these new libraries were that Carnegie would provide the funds for the erection of the building, which was usually equal to about two dollars per local area resident. The local government had to then provide the construction site and an amount equal to 10 percent of the Carnegie grant annually from the city tax revenues to support the newly funded library. The city of Ludington provided the construction site and agreed to $1,500 annually (10% of the construction cost) for maintenance of the building. On March 1, 1906 the library opened. On its opening in March 1906 the library had assembled a collection of 3,800 books.