Mission Statement
To make informational, educational, cultural and recreational materials and programs readily available and accessible to all Library users. The staff will provide prompt, accurate information and guidance to our patrons in a welcoming, business-like atmosphere.
Historical Bio
Peter White Public Library (PWPL) is located on the corner of Front and Ridge Streets near downtown Marquette, Michigan. Founded in 1879, the Peter White Public Library has served Marquette area residents for more than a century. The original Peter White Public Library building was built in 1904 thanks to the generosity of several community members who believed in its worth. Later, in 1958, an addition was constructed. The physical facility remained virtually unchanged until 1997 when a major renovation and expansion project, costing over $9 million, began. The extensive project to the historic 1904 building ended in 2000. The "new" building is nearly 65,000 square feet and is a blend of the historic and the modern. Fireplaces fitted with gas inserts provide heat as well as atmosphere in the four rooms of the original building. Nearly 100 computers fill the Library with modern technology.
The Peter White Public Library (PWPL) was founded in 1871 by Peter White and located within the City Hall. At that time, he donated "the sum of $4,000 to found a public library in the city, to be under the government of five trustees and $1,000 to be expanded in the purchase of cases and in completing a room in the new city hall.” Mr. White always provided space for the Library. It was later housed in the First National Bank Building on the south corner of Front and Spring Streets and later still in the Thurber Block on Washington Street where the BOOKWORLD bookstore now stands. The school district library and Peter White's private library were combined. On March 27, 1891 a special act of the Michigan Legislature incorporated the two libraries to become the Peter White Public Library. By October 1895, the Library was outgrowing this space, and White began the effort to construct a new library building.
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 raided 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 is of 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 and interior renovations "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. Its 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 60,000 square feet and provide a 200-250 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.
At the Fall 1996 election 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.
Staff moved materials again during Fall 2000. After thirty (30) months in temporary quarters, materials were brought together from NMU and storage into a newly completed, state-of-the-art facility with nearly 65,000 square feet. Staff, professionals and volunteers blended original with the contemporary to create a bright, open atmosphere that would house the Library for the next fifty (50) years.
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.
PWPL's long-awaited piano arrived on January 26, 2002. After collecting monies from free-will Chamber Concerts, selling "pieces" of the piano and regular donations, the Piano Selection Committee chose a 7'9" Concert Grand Petrof piano for the Library's Community Room.
Skandia Township residents voted at the November 2002 election to become the eighth township to join the Peter White Public Library's service area. Their vote for a 1-mil tax levy allows residents' use of all services of the Library. Fiscal Year 2005-2006 (July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006) set a new attendance record of 303,019; that is an average of 902 persons daily.