1888: YMCA opens free reading room for young men, later that year the Northville Circulating Library was formed with 100 books donated by citizens

The first attempt at creating a library in the Village of Northville occurred in 1888, under the auspices of the YMCA. The organization operated a free reading room for the young men of Northville with books donated by citizens of the community.  In the same year, the Northville Circulating Library Association was formed with 100 books in its fledgling collection.

By the following year, neither the reading room nor the circulating library association remained. Nevertheless, in 1889, a call went out to form a library in the village.

In his book, Northville . . . The First Hundred Years, author Jack Hoffman noted that “by joint resolution of the ‘different church societies’ of the community, Miss Mary Lapham was named chairman of the library committee . . .” The committee was composed of a dozen Northville women and formed the basis of what would become the Ladies’ Library Association.

Despite the all-female composition of the library association, the library was viewed as a place primarily for young men and boys. As noted in an October 1889 article in The Northville Record, “A public library with a reading room open to the public afternoons and evenings would do as much good as anything added to this place. A room that can be made attractive to the young men and boys where they will spend their time instead of at questionable resorts.”