Mission Statement
To enrich the community through access to library services and cultural opportunities.

 

Historical Information
The Peter White Public Library (PWPL) has been serving residents of Marquette, Michigan for over a century. Founded in 1871 by Peter White, it was initially located within the City Hall. White donated $4,000 to establish the library and $1,000 for the purchase of cases and the completion of a room in the new city hall. Over time, the library was housed in different locations, including the First National Bank Building and the Thurber Block on Washington Street. On March 27, 1891, the school district library and Peter White’s private library were combined by a special act of the Michigan Legislature to become the Peter White Public Library. By October 1895, the library had outgrown its space, prompting White to spearhead efforts to construct a new building. Today, PWPL is located on the corner of Front and Ridge Streets in downtown Marquette.

In 1900, John Munro and Mary Beecher Longyear donated the deeds for the lots at the corner of Front and Ridge Streets to the Board of Trustees of the Peter White Public Library. Nathan M. and Mary Breitung Kaufman and Peter and Ellen Hewitt White donated generously to the project. The building opened to the public on September 22, 1904. The cost of the building was $47,000 and the land was valued at $13,000. This magnificent Beaux Arts Classical building of white Bedford, Indiana limestone was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Patton and Miller. The grayish-white, smooth-cut stone contrasted sharply with the reddish-brown brick and sandstone of other Marquette structures. The 1904 Library Board explained that it chose white stone “so as to furnish a variation to the dark stone which is characteristic of the architecture of Marquette.” Round-arched windows with keystones pierce the walls on the raised first story; the second-story windows are rectangular. An ornamental cornice encircles the red tile hipped roof. Stairs ascend to the projecting main central entrance on North Front Street, which is marked by four giant fluted columns in antis. The Library interior features white marble and weathered oak. Stained glass windows and a skylight produced by Speirling and Linden added to the beauty of the building.

In 1958 an addition designed by Harold S. Starin “modernized” the building on its west end. An entrance to the building from Ridge Street was added at this time. This $300,000 project was funded by a municipal bond issue and the generous contributions of James Pickands Maynard, Frances Quintard Reynolds, and Frances White Shiras.

Celebration of the United States Bicentennial in 1976 led to the renovation of the North and South Heritage Rooms, Dandelion Cottage Room, Shiras Media Room, Rachel Spear Bell Collection and the second floor gallery area. The restoration was designed by Marquette architect Howard McKie. Four columns distinguish the advancing plane of the Front Street entrance. This entrance was closed to the public in 1982. After repair, it was re-opened for public use in September 1994. A wheelchair lift was also added at this time on the west end of the building adjacent to the Youth Services Area.

During the early 1990’s the long-range planning committee proposed a renovation and expansion project. The Library had filled its nearly 25,000 square feet and had no room for additional equipment or books. The auditorium sat only 82 people. The building’s aging structure could not handle the technology of the 90’s and meet ADA mandates. Increased demand for services, new technology and space had put a serious strain on the Peter White Public Library. The need for major renovation to the antiquated structure and replacement of inefficient heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems had reached a critical level. Serious overcrowding, disruptive noise levels that inhibited productive work and research, and adequate space for nearly every program was at a premium. Finally, full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act had become, perhaps, the most urgent need of all for the expansion project.

To meet its challenges head on and continue meeting the needs of our community for the next fifty years, the Peter White Public Library initiated a Capital Campaign. A proposed building renovation/expansion project would increase the building to approximately 65,000 square feet and provide a 150 seat auditorium. In 1994 the Board of Trustees contracted with Sundberg Carlson and Associates, Inc. and Frye Gillan Molinaro Architects, Ltd. of Chicago to design an architecturally compatible addition to the original 1904 building.
In the fall of 1996, Marquette City residents passed a bond issue for $4.5 million by a 62% margin agreeing to provide half the expansion/renovation funds. A Capital Campaign was begun to raise the remaining $4.5 million from private and corporate donations. Over a five-year period, the Campaign collected foundation grants, challenge grants, pledges and outright donations to total over $4.5 million as it met its 50% project pledge to the city of Marquette.

During February and March 1998, the Library staff and volunteers moved approximately 60% of materials to a temporary library facility in the old Quad II cafeteria located on Northern Michigan University’s campus. The remaining material went into storage while the renovation/expansion project was under construction.

October 22, 2000 was the GRAND OPENING GALA for the expansion / renovation project. People came from near and far to see the project that had begun nearly a decade before. Guest speakers were Bart Stupak, U.S. Representative from Michigan’s 1st District; Christie Pearson Brandau, Michigan’s new State Librarian; Frank Sciotto, Marquette’s own Mayor and Paul Marin, President of the Library’s Board of Trustees. The major benefactors for the project were Cleveland Cliffs Foundation, in Memory of William & Dorothy Tanner and Eugene & Evelyn Elzinga, The Frazier Fund, Inc., Members of the Huron Mountain Club, Violet V. Johnson, The L.G. Kaufman Endowment Fund, The W. K. Kellogg Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The National Endowment for the Humanities, Phyllis M. Reynolds and her family-Joan Miller, Kate Muller, Frances Reynolds and Alice Reynolds, the Shiras Institute Board of Trustees, plus the hundreds of Marquette area residents who believed that we all deserved a library built for the twenty-first century.

Today, the Peter White Library is the largest public library in the fifteen counties of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Service contracts with Chocolay, Ewing, Marquette, Sands, Skandia, Turin, Wells and West Branch Townships have added to the area that is served by PWPL.  Its service population, including the City of Marquette and the nine surrounding contracted townships, has grown to over 36,000 people.  The number of library card holders has increased from approximately 6,500 in 1958 to more than 22,700 today.

You may check out the following list of librarians from 1894 to the present.

Peter White Public Library Timeline: a Rich Heritage