Greenville Public/Flat River Community Library History

To address their growing concern for literacy and education in the Montcalm County area, three women, one from each of the three prominent local churches, met with the wife of the village president to establish plans for a public library in Greenville. In 1868 they held a strawberry festival that raised seventy dollars, the library's first budget. They bought twenty-five books and opened the first public library in the vestry of the Methodist Church.

Through the years, the library thrived and grew and moved from location to location steadily outgrowing each stop it made. It was housed in commercial buildings and in the city hall. In 1913, it moved into the central school building of Greenville Public Schools. With both school enrollment and the library growing, one library shared by both the public and the school became less and less feasible. In 1936, spurred by the activism of women from five different social and business clubs, the library was moved to a small rented building on the north side of Greenville. In 1941 the first local library board was formed.

By the late '40's, demand for a larger and more centrally located library was enough that local women again joined together and lead the drive for more library space. In 1950 the Greenville Board of Education sold the Cass Street Elementary School to the city for one dollar to be used for public service. After extensive remodeling, and the hiring of a graduate librarian, the Greenville Public Library opened in the old Cass Street school building. As soon as 1956, the need for a new and larger library was being felt. In 1957 the Greenville Federation of Women's Clubs began planning for a brand new building built specifically to meet the needs of a community Library. It took ten years of planning and fund raising, but in 1967 a brand new 6,800 square foot facility was built on Franklin Street.

The Franklin Street library swerved the public well for over thirty years. In 1996 the Greenville Public Library became the Flat River Community Library, a district library with its own governing board, and plans were made for yet another expansion and upgrade. In 1998 the library moved into a brand new building at its present location on Judd Street, the site of the old Greenville High School. Today, as in the past, the library strives to provide area residents with entertaining and educational reading and programs, as well as up-to-date information and services.