Since 1927
The Cromaine District Library has served the residents
of the Hartland Consolidated School district and surrounding townships
since it was built in 1927. It was donated to the schools by J. Robert
Crouse and his uncle, Henry A. Tremaine, as the result of a $5,000.00
bequest from John B. Crouse, father of J. Robert Crouse. Tremaine and Crouse
added $ 20,000.00 to the bequest to erect the Library which was named
in honor of its donors.
The Hartland schools provided the land on which the library was built
under the tenure of W. D. White, Superintendent of Schools. Crouse
provided a nucleus of 1,225 books for the collection. The schools in
turn agreed to maintain the building, to provide heat, light, janitor
services and a half-time teacher-librarian.
The building, a splendid example of early American Federalist architecture
was designed by Professor Emil Lorch, Dean of the College of Architecture
at the University of Michigan.
Almost 70 years later, in November 1995, Cromaine became an independent
district library, established under the District Library Establishment
Act (MCL 397.171 et seq.) by Hartland Consolidated Schools and Hartland
Township. It is funded by a voted millage of 1.6 mills.
Cromaine Library has been and still is a valuable and vital resource
to the Hartland community. The aim of the library is to provide services
and a wide variety of media and materials to meet the informational,
recreational and educational needs of all ages, individuals and groups. |