Hesperia Library Hits The Century Mark

Hesperia Library Director Kay Brennan receiving tribute from Representative Jon Bumstead

Hesperia Library Hits The Century Mark
​By Kay Brennan

​As part of the celebration marking its centennial year the Hesperia Community Library year was given a special tribute to commemorate the event. State Representative Jon Bumstead presented the framed proclamation signed by him along with Governor Rick Snyder and State Senator Geoff Hansen to...

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...Library Director Kay Brennan in a recent ceremony. Representative Bumstead expressed his congratulations to the community and the library board on the anniversary of the founding of the library.  

“This community has reached a significant milestone,” said Ms. Brennan.”The library continues to be a thriving resource of information, entertainment and a gathering place for the community.”

In 1916 the Hesperia Women’s Literary Club started a library with 237 books.

When the library began life was very different from today.  Eighty-five percent of men over 14 worked and Social Security didn’t exist. Ten percent of infants died in their first year.  The Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world.  President Wilson was in office and World War I was being fought in Europe.  Coca-Cola brought its current formula to the market and lard was commonly used in cooking.

Access to electricity wasn’t widespread and televisions wouldn’t appear until much later.

When the Hesperia Library was established, patrons had to pay a yearly membership fee to be able to borrow books, the only items you could borrow.  Through the years the library was housed in several different buildings until Mr. William Branstrom donated money to construct a new building in 1962 which was renovated in 2002 to its current design.

With the development of computers and the Internet, today’s library is very different from the original library 100 years ago.  Today the Library offers free computer and Wi-Fi use.  Using the Internet patrons can look at the collection from anywhere and request items from libraries across the state.In addition to traditional paper and print books the Library also offers DVDs, online magazines, eBooks and audio books, books on cd and many other services.