Library History

The DeWitt District Library owes its origin to the long defunct DeWitt Woman's Club. In 1933 they discussed the prospect of organizing a library as a worthy community project. They appointed Mildred Carris as chairwoman of a committee to see to organizing a book collection and quarters to house it in. Her committee made a house to house campaign throughout the DeWitt area for donations of books.

The first home of the library was located in the rear of the post office building which at that time was located in an old store building located at 116 West Main Street. Mrs. Carris and Sadie Trumble volunteered their time as librarians and were assisted by other club members. The first books were loaned from the library on February 9, 1934. Besides loaning books the librarians also did the cleaning of the library and tended to the wood stove in cold weather. Mrs. Carris' husband, Percy, was in charge of starting the fire in the stove during his lunch hour. In these early years the library was open only two afternoons each week. It boasted a collection of about 400 books and was patronized by over 40 borrowers.

The library soon outgrew its small quarters and moved to a new location above the fire barn on the east side of South Bridge Street. This location was not ideal, the entrance was atop a steep flight of outside stairs, but it was the best that could be done at the time.

The library made an agreement in 1943 with General Telephone Co. to take over occupancy of its recently vacated building just west of the library's original location. This third location now houses the Family Barber Shop at 124 West Main Street. It was during this period that a library board was instituted and the village council agreed to help support the library. The librarians were then given a wage of 25 cents per hour.

General Telephone eventually chose to sell their former building and the search for new library quarters began again. William and Gerda Rogerson offered a piece of land on Washington Street for building a library and soon public meetings were held to discuss the concept of a community building to be built in the memory of the area soldiers who gave their lives in the war. It was decided to build a hall that would also house a library. Construction began in the late 1940's and the library was able to move into its new quarters in 1949.

In 1966, when a new meeting hall was added to the west side of the Memorial Building, the library moved in to its present facility which had previously been the meeting hall. The room formerly used by the library was converted into a small meeting room for clubs and other organizations. Later this room was added to the library once again becoming the reference room.

The library was recognized as an established library by the Michigan State Library in the 1940's under the name DeWitt Public Library and became a district library in 1962 when the village and township agreed to support the establishment.

In the early 1970's a branch library was established in Valley Farms in a building adjacent to the fire station. Early in 1982 this branch moved into the former Valley Farms School building which is now the DeWitt Community Center. The branch closed on May 1, 1988.

At the time of long-time librarian Faye Hanson's death in January of 1982, the library, by unanimous consent of the city, township, and library board, was dedicated to her memory in recognition of her tremendous contributions to both the library and the community. The library was officially renamed the Faye Hanson Public Library.

After Mrs. Hanson's death, Judith Gerred took over and under her guidance the library was remodeled with the assistance by the DeWitt Lions and Lionesses clubs. The library collection was also computerized during her term of service.

Having outgrown the space in the Memorial Building, the library purchased an existing office building at 13101 Schavey Road in 1998 with the assistance of the City of DeWitt and DeWitt Township. The Library Board voted to change the official name back to the DeWitt Public Library to avoid confusion as to the location of the library. Having successfully moved the library into its new home, Judith Gerred retired and Michael Lamb was hired as DeWitt's first Library Director with a professional degree in library science.

Within eight years circulation rates more than tripled and the library began looking for a new, permanent home. During this time of rapid growth Mr. Lamb resigned to take a job with a larger library and Mr. Rene Prado was hired as Library Director in March of 2005.

On August 9, 2005, residents of the portion of Watertown Township not in the Grand Ledge or Waverly School districts voted to join the DeWitt library district.

In 2007 the library received a gift from Norm and Renee Farnum of 4 acres of land on DeWitt Road near the main DeWitt school complex. The library has proposed building a new, modern facility on the site to be named in honor of Mrs. Farnum's father, William Drouin.

In August of 2007 the library opened a small satellite in the DeWitt Community Center to better serve residents in the southern portion of DeWitt Township. The satellite featured a small collection and public Internet access, but was closed due to low usage on December 31, 2010.

Jennifer Balcom was hired as Library Director on January 4, 2009.

In December 2009 the library changed its name to the DeWitt District Library to clarify its district library status.

Glenn Fischer was hired as Library Director in December 2022.

Library directors of the DeWitt District Library have been Mildred Carris, Gladys Walker, Dorothy Miller, Mamie Archer, Faye Hanson, Judith Gerred, Michael Lamb, Rene Prado, Jennifer Balcom, and Glenn Fischer.