McGregor Library: Highland Park gets $342,000

[Planner3357]

This is a very good start to a new beginning for HP. We can really build off of the restoration of this awesome building.

Highland Park residents, city officials and schoolchildren gathered Monday at City Hall as Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced $342,000 in grants to help restore the city's McGregor Public Library.

The city was awarded a $110,000 Cities of Promise grant and a $232,000 Clean Energy Coalition grant. The former is to be used to jump-start fund-raising for the library, and the latter likely will be used to upgrade existing lighting at the library with natural and energy-efficient technologies.
"This contribution made by the governor, and by her coming here, shows how significant the library and this project is to her," said Terry Ford, the city's attorney. "This is truly a great thing."
The library, which opened in 1926 at Woodward and Massachusetts, was closed in 2002 as the city struggled financially and the state appointed an emergency financial manager to oversee the city.

In 2006, Granholm created the Cities of Promise initiative to redevelop communities with job losses, blighted neighborhoods and declining populations.
Highland Park, along with seven other cities including Pontiac and Hamtramck, received grant money under the initiative, which is scheduled to end Dec. 31.
Each city had to create a signature project. Highland Park officials chose to focus on eventually reopening the McGregor Library and launched a $9.3-million restoration campaign.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which oversees the Cities of Promise initiative, earlier this year provided two full-time project managers to help the city assess the capital improvements that need to be made to reopen the library and solicit funding.
"Libraries are important components of civil society -- they can be the social and cultural anchor of smaller communities," Granholm said.

[Lowell]

I thought there was also supposed to be money coming from the Danny Glover film shot there. [BTW anyone have any release updates on that film?]

It is truly a gem. I spent many hours there and hope for its reopening.

[Zacha341]

Great news indeed!

I thought there was also supposed to be money coming from the Danny Glover film shot there. [BTW anyone have any release updates on that film?]

It is truly a gem. I spent many hours there and hope for its reopening.

[M CD M]

That will be good.
Too bad for the old Police, Fire, and Court buildings.
I was over there this saturday, and the Police station looks like a bomb went off.
Looks like scrappers ripped off the awnings

[Islandman]

If this is going to happen, they'd better get started. Drove by it today and the majority of windows were broken from thrown rocks. This has to relatively new as I had not noticed that before.

[cman710]

Here's a picture of the police station from a sunny day last April.

[Planner3357]

Police station and fire station have been approved for demo. Some of the other buildings are undergoing assessments. There is so much water damage and deterioration that although awesome old buildings, they are not savable.

We are planning on making big strides regarding the McGregor Library in the next few months. The architects rehab plan is in place and now all we need is to find the rest of the funding.

Stay tuned.

[Planner3357]

Poppa Burb, glad you asked. The city of Highland Park desperately needs something we can be proud of and build around. Like you said, Detroit is closing their libraries, we're trying to open our own. The empty space to the south of the library has plans to be a community park. The upper floor of the library could possibly be an incubator as well. It is a beautiful building and we believe it deserves another chance.

[Melocoton]

I'm glad that they are trying to rejuvenate Highland Park, however does anyone else feel in the age of the internet that libraries are somewhat obsolete...I'm not up on the state of all the libraries in Detroit and Hamtramck but it looks like there are other libraries close to highland park unless all those are closed as well. I'm not saying libraries aren't important because they definatly are but...with Detroit closing so many libraries why does it make sense to reopen one in Highland Park.

#1) Not everyone has the Internet, many people's only access comes from libraries, where it's free;

#2) Libraries also have books, which are not all online, and most people don't read books online anyway;

#3) knowledge is power;

#4) it's because Detroit is closing libraries it's important for Highland Park to re-open one, especially a grand jewel like this one.

[Gistok]

I'm glad that they are trying to rejuvenate Highland Park, however does anyone else feel in the age of the internet that libraries are somewhat obsolete...I'm not up on the state of all the libraries in Detroit and Hamtramck but it looks like there are other libraries close to highland park unless all those are closed as well. I'm not saying libraries aren't important because they definatly are but...with Detroit closing so many libraries why does it make sense to reopen one in Highland Park.

Fixing the building is going to eat a large portion of that money and where will the money come from to keep it running. Please don't take it that I'm being pessimistic. I'm just trying to be honest.

This money was allocated to HIGHLAND PARK... not Detroit. This was done before the current announcement of closure.

As someone who, with a group of Preservation Wayne members, got a private tour of the facility several years ago by Katherine Clarkson [[both former PW Executive Director, and former member of the HP Library Board), I have to say that except for the Detroit Main Library... there isn't a Detroit branch library that is as magnificent as the Highland Park library. And it has a great amount of artwork [[in storage) that makes the place a true gem.

Although it is not in Detroit, the library is centrally located for Detroiters, and others to use.

[JenniferL]

I passed by the McGregor Library today and it made me sad to see the building in such a state. I hope the reopening works out.

[Planner3357]

We are really pushing to begin renovations this year. We have plans all drawn up by very good architects. This isn't as far off as you may think.

[Bham1982]

I think this beautiful structure should be renovated to become a charter school or some sort of community facility. I am not seeing how a library is a viable long-term use.

Highland Park was once a prosperous city of 60,000, and this grand building was built to serve a city of this size. Now Highland Park is losing folks much faster than even Detroit, and is on course to cease to exist within a few decades. There are only a few thousand people left in the city.

So what would happen if we spent all this money on this beautiful structure, but there was no one left in the city?

I think a charter school could serve Detroit, Hamtramck and other surrounding communities. A community center could also have a larger geographical draw. A HP municipal library doesn't seem to make sense, unless it could also serve other nearby communities, because there are almost no potential users left within HP.

[claireianthelibrarian]

"A community center could also have a larger geographical draw. A HP municipal library doesn't seem to make sense, unless it could also serve other nearby communities, because there are almost no potential users left within HP."

A public library IS a community center in all but the literal sense.

At all [[or virtually all) public libraries in SE Michigan, you can get the Michicard sticker on your card for free and check out books at any participating library anywhere in SE Michigan. So HP residents using this library could get Michicard stickers on their cards and use Detroit libraries as well, Detroiters could use this branch, etc. It would be sort of like another Detroit library, but primarily serving the community of Highland Park, and not subject to exactly the same budget ebbs and flows of DPL [[if still a part of the same larger regional picture).

Study after study on libraries shows that a dollar invested in a library returns to the community manyfold: http://dpi.state.wi.us/pld/econimpact.html

Edited to add I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!

[Planner3357]

Here are some pictures I took with my phone yesterday while inside the library. Not very good so I apologize. This building really is magnificent. An absolute gem.

The building is in pretty good shape except for some plaster and paint...amongst many other things.

It's still creepy to me that the books are still on the shelves.