{"id":31336,"date":"2021-08-02T13:13:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T17:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/?page_id=31336"},"modified":"2025-12-06T10:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:17:07","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/?page_id=31336","title":{"rendered":"History of NDL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tNorthville District Library Serving Northville since 1888\t<\/h1>\n\t\"\"Dr. Mary E. Lapham played a foundational role in establishing the Northville District Library in Northville, Michigan. In 1889, she was appointed chair of a newly formed library committee by several local church societies, a group that became the Ladies’ Library Association. She donated the first 250 books-forming the core of the library’s collection-and eventually deeded a building to the association with the stipulation that the Northville Woman’s Club would always have space there. Under her leadership, the library opened in January 1890 on Main Street and later moved into the New School Church<\/a> building on Wing Street. Even after she left Northville to pursue her medical career, her legacy endured: in 1904, the Ladies’ Library Association officially named the library building the Mary E. Lapham Library.\u00a0 Her early vision and generous contributions created the local and intellectual foundation for what would grow into the Northville District Library on Cady Street.
\n<\/b>\n\t

\"Photo1888<\/b> – YMCA opens free reading room for young men, later that year the Northville Circulating Library was formed with 100 books donated by citizens<\/p>\n

1889<\/b> – Ladies Library Association incorporates under chairperson Miss Mary Lapham, who donates 250 books<\/p>\n

1890<\/b> – Library opens on second floor of McKeand Building ($1\/year subscription)<\/p>\n

1892<\/b> – 200+ members borrow 115 items each week<\/p>\n\t

\"1895\"1895<\/b> – Library moves into New School Church<\/a> building<\/p>\n

1899 <\/b>– Dr. Mary Lapham deeds the building to the Ladies Library Association with one condition<\/p>\n

1926 <\/b>– Librarian hired for 35\u00a2\/hr<\/p>\n

1934 <\/b>– Wayne County takes over<\/p>\n\t

\"1955\"1955<\/b> – City and Township lend financial support<\/p>\n

1964<\/b> – Library moves to City Hall<\/p>\n

1972 <\/b>– New School Church moves to Mill Race Historical Village<\/p>\n

1975 <\/b>– Library moves into MAGS building (on former Church site)<\/p>\n

\"\" \"NDL<\/p>\n\t

\"\"1979<\/b> – Voters approve bond issue. Library moves to Community Center<\/p>\n

1980<\/b> – Library returns to City Hall<\/p>\n

1992<\/b> – Becomes District Library<\/p>\n

1994 <\/b>– Voters approve Cady Street project with funding in perpetuity<\/p>\n

1996 <\/b>– Library opens in current location<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n\t

\"A<\/b><\/p>\n

2018<\/b> – Addition constructed for meeting rooms and study space<\/p>\n

\"A \"A<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northville District Library Serving Northville since 1888 Dr. Mary E. Lapham played a foundational role in establishing the Northville District Library in Northville, Michigan. In 1889, she was appointed chair of a newly formed library committee by several local church societies, a group that became the Ladies’ Library Association. She donated the first 250 books-forming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31336","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 09:24:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31336"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47749,"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31336\/revisions\/47749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northvillelibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}