The Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library traces its history as a public library to February 1935 when the newly established Lenawee County Library in Adrian located a sub-station in Blissfield. While the Lenawee County Library as a whole got its start with funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Act and the State Emergency Relief Act, the Blissfield Public Library (as it was first known) always benefited from the generous support of local residents, first through a millage and later through an appropriation from the Village's general fund. Local support was a requirement for the establishment of the library with federal and state aid.
While the history of a library in Blissfield dates even further back to a Ladies' Library Association established in 1874 and a Howland Library branch which required a membership fee, the Blissfield Public Library moved around several times during the early years, finally settling in the old Jipson-Carter State Bank Building at Pearl and Adrian Streets in 1939. In 1956, the Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library was dedicated in its current location, an event made possible by a bequest from the estate of Martha Schultz. Mrs. Schultz and her late husband, Fred, designated that their combined estate be given for the construction of a library and a community room in memory of their only daughter, Erma, her husband, Harold Holmes and their son, Fritz, all of whom had died in a tragic boating accident on Lake Superior in 1947.
Today, an elected board of trustees establishes library policy and appoints a director. The library director and the library staff are paid from the library budget which is appropriated to the library by the Village and overseen by the library board of trustees.
The Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library holds over 31,000 volumes, six public internet access computers, a local history archive and two microfilm readers. The library offers free book clubs, an annual lecture series, youth programs, inter-library loan and reference assistance, as well as copy and fax services for a small fee.
Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library is not affiliated with AmericanTowns Media
