“A good book is the best of friends,” the slogan of the Hartland Area Project’s Cromaine Library was inscribed on the sign that once stood on the library grounds.
The library is one of the few remaining departments of J. Robert Crouse’s dream, known as the Hartland Area Project, which was designed to be a “Friendly Association for Community Service” that would enhance the lives of the residents of the rural Hartland community.
The Cromaine (District) Library has served the residents of the Hartland Consolidated School district and surrounding townships since it was built in 1927. It was donated to the schools by J. Robert Crouse Sr. and his uncle, Henry A. Tremaine, as a result of a bequest of $5,000.00 from John B. Crouse, father of J. Robert Crouse, Sr. Tremaine and Crouse added $20,000 to the bequest to erect a library, which was named in honor of its donors. CRO (Crouse) MAINE (Tremaine).
The Hartland Schools provided the land on which the library was built. Mr. Crouse provided a nucleus of 1,225 books for the collection. From time to time Mr. Crouse presented the library with autographed letters and pictures of the “great and near-great.” Especially noted were autographs of Queen Victoria, Napoleon, and letters written by Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln. This collection is currently housed at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, for safety and preservation. It is also available online at the library. Many art works and objet d’art were donated to adorn the library interior.
The building, a splendid example of early American Federalist architecture, was designed by Professor Emil Lorch, Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Michigan. Sod was broken at a special ceremony on December 2, 1926. The cornerstone for the building was laid at another ceremony on March 4, 1927.
In 1978 the taxpayers of the Hartland Consolidated School District supported a bond issue for the construction of a 9,400 square foot addition. May 17, 1979 was the groundbreaking ceremony and on September 8, 1980 the library proudly opened the doors to its new addition welcoming the community to enjoy the new and remodeled facility.
In 1995, the library separated from the school district and became a public district library. An operational millage was passed in 1997 and a newly elected Board of Trustees sworn in July 1998.
By 2005, growth in the district outstrapped the existing building comprised of the 1927 and 1980 additions. A 3,400 square foot addition of rented space was created from a retail storefront in the strip mall on the southeast corner of Old US-23 and M-59. The Crossroads Branch of Cromaine opened in September 2005 and served the community on this more-frequented traffic pattern until it was closed April 30th, 2017. While the branch had met all of its goals in circulation and usage, the traffic pattern had moved beginning in 2008 to the east side of the intersection US-23 and M-59 when a new Meijer and new Walmart were opened, along with more commercial development. The branch’s closing was considered wise by some of the community and disappointing by others, but the funds used to rent the space and supply a separated offering of the library’s resources, including human resources, were needed to continue to maintain the legacy building in the Village.
In September 2017, Cromaine Library celebrated its 90th year of service with the grand opening of a 3,800 square foot addition to the east side of the 1980 addition. This new space permitted many of the community’s “wants” to be filled, including offering three study rooms, two smaller meeting rooms, and a beautiful Youth Program Room nestled in the woods on the school’s adjacent property.