Written by Suzanne Krueger 9/3/2024

In March of 1934, the Monroe County Experimental Library was established with the aid of Civil Works Administration (CWA) providing funds for labor services and librarian salaries. Mrs. Lillian Navarre, State Librarian, and the Monroe chapter of University of Michigan Women were instrumental in establishing these library stations throughout the county. The Monroe County Board of Supervisors, on April 5, 1934, legally sanctioned the library by passing a resolution: “To create a County Library.” Books were made available through State Library in Lansing and Dorsch Memorial Library in Monroe.

On Wednesday April 11, 1934 the County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to create a “County Library Board.” By May the County Library Board are named, Dr. Harold McMillan of Dundee, Mrs. Edgar Gordon of Monroe, Russell Knapp of Ida, Hall Deland of Temperance, and Clyde Hatter, the County School Commissioner, by virtue of his office was made a member of the board.

The Ida station of the Monroe County Experimental Library opened in June 1934 in Lipp’s Drug Store on Main Street, south of the railroad tracks. From 25 to 50 books were placed at each library station and were changed every few weeks. By the end of the first month of circulation, 201 books were given out at Ida. In addition to circulating library books, Miss Fritzi Lipp, school teacher and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Lipp, was conducting a weekly story hour held at the M. E. Church in Ida. Ida was among six newly established stations at this time.

On September 19,1935 the CWA established library stations closed for lack of funding. The books were moved to Monroe for storage.

On December 5, 1935 the libraries were reestablished as a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), resuming an undertaking which began in February, 1934 as a CWA project and until September of 1935 had funding under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). The new project involves considerable changes from the original county library work, in as much as it is designed to provide work for women. In addition to attending the library, the attendants would renovate and mend books for the rural and village schools in the county. According to an article in the Dundee Reporter newspaper dated December 5, 1935, Ida was listed as a location that would re-open at this time.

Nine reading centers in the county with ten women assigned to them were established by Mrs. Lillian Navarre. Each community providing its own reading room or headquarters for the librarian, and the WPA pays the attendant.

Between December 1935 and March 1937 this writer is unable to verify library staff and regular service to the Ida community.

March 22, 1937, the Ida Library opened with Miss Elizabeth Cory as the attendant in charge two or three days each week. The March 23, 1937 edition of the Monroe Evening News reported that it was the latest branch of the county library operated as a WPA project and located in Weipert’s store (where the U.S. Post Office now stands).

March 27, 1939, Miss Laura Sylvester was transferred to the Ida station from Petersburg. Mrs. Navarre believed it was best to have each library attendant stationed in their home town. Miss Sylvester stayed at Ida until 1941.

At some point in 1945 the library was turned over to the county and was no longer under the WPA. The county libraries were financed by penal fine money, the law having been passed in 1939.

From June to September 1945, Miss Kohler took over, but as far as we can determine it was for only one month. There are no records for October or November, 1945; the library had been closed for lack of help.

In December 1945, Mrs. Emma Roswurm took over. The room at this time was completely renovated with new floor covering, a new oil heater, and a complete paint job and new desk.

In the summer of 1946, the library was again closed for six weeks because penal fine money was no longer available.

In 1947 Mrs. Francis Navarre was replaced by her assistant, Mrs. Mary Daume, as head librarian for the Monroe Library. The term “station” was replaced by the word “branch” during the year of 1947.

In 1951 the Ida library was moved to a single room in the newly built Ida Village Center which housed the fire station and township hall, now the Ida Fire Department offices. Soon the library expanded to another small room in the hall to accommodate more books.

On August 7, 1962 a .5 mill tax support for the Monroe Library passed by a 3 to 2 margin vote. Previously the libraries were supported entirely by penal fines, which had been dwindling over the past years.

In 1977 the Ida Township Board purchased a portable classroom from Ida Public Schools, which served as the Ida Branch Library until 2003. The portable classroom building was the smallest branch in the Monroe County Library System, with 738 square feet of usable area.

Under the leadership of branch head, Barb Drodt, the Ida Township Board, the Friends of the Ida Library, and the Ida Civic Club began rallying support for a new building. A five year, .5 mill tax was placed on the August 2002 primary election ballot to fund the new library-community room project. The estimated project cost was about $500,000 with $100,000 coming from the township’s general fund, $75,000 in private donations and the remainder from the tax. The township voters overwhelmingly passed the tax proposal to generate $325,000 over five years. Significant donations for the project were made by the Ida Civic Club, Friends of the Ida Library, Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood, Community Foundation of Monroe, Detroit Edison, Family of Dr. Charles Deland, Ida Elementary PTA, individuals, and La-Z-Boy, Inc.

The beautiful new facility which provides library service to Ida and the surrounding communities opened in 2003 and continues to bring valuable services to the area.

In December 2008 Barb Drodt retired and Suzanne Krueger took over as Community Librarian in January 2009. Krueger completed her Masters in Library Science and Information degree in April 2008 from Wayne State University, she had been working at the Ida Branch since 2004.

Ida Branch Librarians:

• Mr. and Mrs. John Lipp and daughter, Miss Fritzi Lipp – 1934-1935
• Elizabeth Cory 1937-1939
• Laura Sylvester 1939-1941
• Mrs. Frances Barret 1941-1945
• Miss Kohler 1945
  Mrs. Emma Roswurm 1945-1962
• Hilda Roy 1962-1976
• Marilyn Norden 1976-1993
• Cynthia Green 1993-1998
• Barb Drodt 1998-2008
• Suzanne Krueger 2009-present