History of the Kingsley Branch Library

In 1914, the men of the village of Kingsley wanted to sponsor a traveling lecturer course and proceeded to schedule it.  They got all the material together for the event and promptly "pigeonholed it," according to the late Mable Smith, a former Civics Club president.  When a representative of the traveling lecturer arrived at the village two days before the event, it was discovered that no arrangments had been made.  A group of ladies came to the rescue and made it a successful event.  The group decided they would like to do more civic functions and formally organized into the Civics Club.

One of the club's first and main projects was the library, starting on a small scale in 1914.  The club moved many times and the library with it.  In 1939, they purchased an 800-square-foot building at 104 S. Brownson Ave., which was previously a bank - the vault is still there.  Funding for the Club's good works, including the library, came from bingo parties, auctions, bake sales, harvest dinners, and arts and crafts fairs.  The group created a cookbook to sell in 1934.

The Civics Club Library became a public library in 1962, with a contract between Mayfield and Paradise Townships, covering payment of penal fines and each township paying 0.3 mil tax revenue annually.  By this agreement, the library became a "district library" and became eligible for state aid as well.  Funding came from three sources - the millage revenue, plus penal fines and state aid, based on census population.

The first librarian was Mrs. A.B. Stinson, who was in charge from conception until 1940, when Nell Stinson "temporarily" took over and remained in that position until 1973.  It was during this time that the library really began to grow.  In 1946, Kingsley elementary teachers began to bring their students to the library by the classroom  This proved to be very successful and continues today. For many years, Ms. Stinson wished to retire, but the library Board was unable to find a replacement.  In 1973, at the age of 80, she retired and three of the library Board members took over her position.  Jane Kaule, Dorothy Westrate, and Lorene Sedlacek completed the Beginner Librarian Workshop and revamped the card catalog.  Shortly thereafter, Jane took a position elsewhere, leaving Dorothy and Lorene to carry out the library duties.  Dorothy officially retired in 2009 (there is a lovely Butterfly bench in the library's garden, in her honor).

In order to obtain State Aid, the State of Michigan mandated that a library had to belong to a cooperative.  So in 1962, they became a member of the Grand Traverse Area Library Federation, a pilot project by the state that later developed into the cooperative.  The library joined the Mid-Michigan Library League, headquartered in Cadillac.  The League receives state aid and writes goverment grants which are then distributed to member libraries

In 1989, the Kingsley District Library was a fast-growing member library to the Traverse Area District Library.  However, in 1999, it was discovered that the two libraries had overlapping districts, which the state would not allow.  Facing the choice of closing or becoming a branch of TADL, the little library in Kingsley officially became a branch - the Kingsley Branch of the Traverse Area District Library.

In February of 2009, after a huge and unprecedented private fundraising effort by the Kingsley Friends of the Library, they moved to their new location at 213 S. Brownson Ave., and continue to happily flourish in their beautiful new, ecologically friendly, 6100-square-foot building.

What we offer

Our collection includes fiction & nonfiction selections for all ages, a Michigan collection,  CDs, a large and popular DVD collection, audio books, magazines, and puppets.  We are home to the Kingsley Historical Collection and became the permanent home to an original Adams Fly in April 2010, a famous fly tied by local Len Halladay for Judge Charlie Adams of Lorain, Ohio.

We offer Summer Reading Clubs for every age group from 1-100+, internet access, wireless internet, free ebooks through Overdrive, and free audiobooks through NetLibrary and Overdrive.  Many other e-resources are available as well, such as Ancestry.com, Mitchell onDemand, Mango languages and live homework help through Tutor.com (see more at http://www.tadl.org/elibrary).

Additional services include interlibrary loans, copier, fax, color printer, scanner, and tax forms.  When the Library is closed, patrons may return their materials in the drop box located outside the main entrance.

You can visit our website at www.tadl.org/kingsley.