Monteith Library

**izzyindetroit** · November-18-10, 11:56 AM

I am sitting here as I type. It is a beautiful Gothic style building.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71288712@N00/484625956/

Does anyone know any more information on the building? A quick google search doesn't produce much. The library doesn't appear on any historic designation lists either.

**DetroitZack** · November-18-10, 12:30 PM

What neighborhood is the Monteith Library in?

**Johnlodge** · November-18-10, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitZack

What neighborhood is the Monteith Library in?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=monteith+library+detroit

**Ray1936** · November-18-10, 12:48 PM

Johnlodge, you're a card!

**izzyindetroit** · November-18-10, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitZack

What neighborhood is the Monteith Library in?

While there isn't much of a neighborhood left. It is on Kercheval within the Jefferson-Chalmers hood.

**Packman41** · November-18-10, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitZack

What neighborhood is the Monteith Library in?

It is at the southeast corner of Kercheval and Eastlawn on the far east side of Detroit.

It was my local library and close to Carstens Elementary School.

Truly a beautiful building inside and out.

**Zimm** · November-18-10, 12:57 PM

what a great building in a neighborhood of several houses! i suspect that there isn't much competition for books, computers, etc. in a branch serving an area with the population density similar to exurbs like romeo or fenton. if that area is one that is allowed to go back to nature, i hope that someone takes the initiative to move the building to someplace where it will not go to waste.

**izzyindetroit** · November-18-10, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Zimm

what a great building in a neighborhood of several houses! i suspect that there isn't much competition for books, computers, etc. in a branch serving an area with the population density similar to exurbs like romeo or fenton. if that area is one that is allowed to go back to nature, i hope that someone takes the initiative to move the building to someplace where it will not go to waste.

It gets plenty of use. This is my third time here and every time table has been more than half full with people of all ages.

It gets more users than the Bloomfield Hills library, oh wait...

http://detnews.com/article/20101023/...heap-rich-town

**Zimm** · November-18-10, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by izzyindetroit

It gets plenty of use. This is my third time here and every time table has been more than half full with people of all ages.

It gets more users than the Bloomfield Hills library, oh wait...

http://detnews.com/article/20101023/...heap-rich-town

oh, i know all about library use. my library in ferndale is full of detroiters using it every time i go there.

**EastsideAl** · November-18-10, 01:39 PM

That's the library my father grew up going to just about every day of his childhood. He was born and raised just up the street on Eastlawn. I had several cousins and other relatives who lived in the area and used that branch regularly. I've been in there many many times over the years, and it is truly a gem.

With the sad closing of so many libraries across the east side [[including my old regular branches, Gray on Field and Mark Twain on Gratiot) it's no wonder that this branch is still very well used by people from all over our area, despite the emptiness of much of the surrounding neighborhood. With the history the I and my family have there we have regularly given money dedicated to the upkeep of this library.

Here's a little history from the Detroit public Library's website:

"The Monteith Branch was named in honor of the first president of the University of Michigan, Rev. John Monteith, a graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1816. The Monteith Branch opened to the public on May 1, 1926.

It was the newest and largest of Detroit's branch libraries, the seventeenth to be housed in a building of its own. This branch was the first to be designed according to a regional plan. The implication was that the region served would be vastly in excess of the neighborhood area generally covered by the regulation branch library. Monteith's service area extends from the riverfront to Mack Avenue and from Connor to Alter Road.

The building is of Plymouth granite and distinctive features of the exterior are the leaded glass casement windows, the symbolical carving over the stair tower and the large bay window in the present children's room. The Adult Room is two stories high with carved wooden trusses. The ends rest upon stone corbels, which are carved into figures symbolical of three of Michigan's leading industries: fur lumber and automobiles. The stained glass panels in the bay window trace the history of printing and of the book.

The second floor space once served as the Children's Room. It features a Pewabic tiled fireplace and above it, a large tile medallion set in plaster. This area of the library has been recently refurbished, thanks to the generosity of the Junior League of Detroit. It features a new floor treatment, furniture and leaded glass doors commemorating their partnership with the Library. This multi-purpose room is hosts a variety of children's programs and is available to the community as a meeting space.

**izzyindetroit** · November-18-10, 02:03 PM

Thanks EastsideAl, one of the eight corbels is missing.

**izzyindetroit** · November-18-10, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by Zimm

oh, i know all about library use. my library in ferndale is full of detroiters using it every time i go there.

Do you find yourself going around and asking everyone for their ID's to support your assumptions?

**Zimm** · November-18-10, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by izzyindetroit

Do you find yourself going around and asking everyone for their ID's to support your assumptions?

after doing a little people watching, you'd have to be a moron not to be able to figure it out with at least 75% accuracy. and please don't assume i'm basing this just on skin color. i'm not that lazy.

many detroiters using the ferndale library are as obvious in the crowd as i would be if i were sitting at the computer next to you. and please don't assume i'm not a detroiter based on my skin color. it should be easy to figure out via other methods.

**daddeeo** · November-18-10, 02:15 PM

Wasn't there something called the Monteith College on Wayne State campus back in the 70's? They had their own brick building not far from the South End.

**EastsideAl** · November-18-10, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by Zimm

after doing a little people watching, you'd have to be a moron not to be able to figure it out with at least 75% accuracy. and please don't assume i'm basing this just on skin color. i'm not that lazy.

many detroiters using the ferndale library are as obvious in the crowd as i would be if i were sitting at the computer next to you. and please don't assume i'm not a detroiter based on my skin color. it should be easy to figure out via other methods.

Don't be silly Izzy. It's not skin color... it's the mark on our foreheads.

**izzyindetroit** · November-18-10, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Don't be silly Izzy. It's not skin color... it's the mark on our foreheads.

oh my bad

Augustiner · November-18-10, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by Zimm

and please don't assume i'm not a detroiter based on my skin color. it should be easy to figure out via other methods.

The fact that you're always complaining about Detroiters is a pretty good tip-off.

**Johnlodge** · November-18-10, 03:11 PM

Alright kids, see if you can control yourself on one fucking thread, k? I'm sure you can find 20 other threads to call each other racist suburbanites, etc. on.

Detroitfunk has the photos covered:
http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=2207

**Neilr** · November-18-10, 05:59 PM

The Detroit Public Library [[DPL) built several Palaces of Reading. The Monteith Branch on Kercheval, the Parkman Branch on Oakman Blvd., and the Mark Twain Branch on Gratiot. The Mark Twain is now in ruins, alas.

**Patrick** · November-18-10, 07:52 PM

AMAZING design indeed.

**Historyguy** · November-19-10, 12:26 AM

The John Monteith School [[now Trombly Alternative High School) at 1095 Hibbard has the words John Montieth School incised over one of the entrances. I suppose it's a bit of an embarrassment to misspell the name of the person after whom the school is named.

**redjan** · November-19-10, 09:21 AM

As a child, I spent a lot of time in this library. My brother and I would head off to the children's room while our mom hit the adult fiction section. My fondest Detroit childhood memories are centered around this library. I think I will come visit it when I am next back in Detroit.

**sumas** · November-19-10, 10:01 AM

Went to Monteith College in the 70's. We had two old homes on campus, one was the student controlled student center and the other was the Dean and Professor's offices.

I pass Monteith Library almost daily and it is still well used despite our expanse of urban prairie.

Don't understand why people resent urban dwellers using Suburban Libraries. Ewald Library in GPP is used by area urban dwellers equally with Monteith. The librarians certainly don't object.

**Packman41** · November-19-10, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by sumas

Don't understand why people resent urban dwellers using Suburban Libraries. Ewald Library in GPP is used by area urban dwellers equally with Monteith. The librarians certainly don't object.

Well, maybe the librarians should object.

This is how you get the folks like in Troy and the City of Bloomfield to mooch off their neighboring communities. They refuse to support their local library and then want free services from the community next door where the taxpayers support that service.

It's like going into a restaurant with your own bag lunch, hooking up to their Wi-Fi and then leaving your sandwich wrappers, etc. at the table for the waitstaff to clean up. It's neither right, nor fair.

Maybe a statewide library system would stop all this nonsense while reducing administrative costs.