New Library Opens

The Glen Lake Community Library moved into its new home earlier this month following a successful fundraising campaign and construction that began in 2019.

“People have been really happy with what they’re finding in the building. Traffic has definitely increased,” said library director David Diller. “Each day it feels more like home.”

The library in Empire was established in 1977 and spent its first years in an old rented building on Front Street before moving into a modified fire hall in 1982 that was added onto repeatedly, doubling in size twice by 1996.

After an operating millage was passed in 2016 in each of the three townships served by the library, its board hired consultants to determine what the library needed and two years later a capital campaign was launched and soon raised $1.75 million to build a state-of-the-art, modern library.