Hoyt Library

In 1882, the late Jesse Hoyt of New York bequeathed US$100,000 to the City of East Saginaw "for a suitable and substantial building to be used as a library."An early design of the library was done by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson but Frederick Poole, one of the nation's most outstanding librarians of the time and consultant for the Hoyt project, thought his library designs were "too monumental, wasteful of space, and not functional as libraries." Richardson's early design for the Hoyt Library was eventually used for the Public Library building in New Orleans, Louisiana (which now serves as the Children's Resource Center). After the design was altered by Van Brunt & Howe of Boston, construction of the library began in 1887. The reference section opened in 1891, and the rest was opened to the public in 1895. At its full opening, it contained more than 20,000 volumes of material, a lecture hall, a meeting room, and a trustee's room. In 1920, the first expansion of the library took place, and another expansion happened in 1960. The library was renovated in 1977 and again in 1994, after the library was split from the public school system into a separate entity.