Hackley Public Library / Hackley Public Library

On May 25, 1888, Muskegon lumber baron Charles H. Hackley announced that he would donate a library to the city. Hackley stipulated that the facility be “forever maintained as a library.” Patton and Fisher of Chicago, one of six firms invited to submit plans for the library, designed the Richardsonian Romanesque-style building. The library was constructed of Maine granite and trimmed with Marquette sandstone. The reading room windows depict Shakespeare, Goethe, Longfellow, and Prescott. Muskegon citizens celebrated the laying of the Hackley Public Library cornerstone on May 25, 1889, the anniversary of Charles Hackley’s donation of the library. It was the first annual celebration held in recognition of Hackley. The previous year the board of education had resolved that classes would be suspended annually on May 25 in Hackley’s honor. On October 15, 1890, the completed library was dedicated. The lot, building, and furnishings amounted to a $175,000 gift.