Howell’s library association began as the Ladies Library Association in 1875, when its members started lending books. As the need for larger permanent quarters increased, Detroit architect Elijah E. Meyers agreed in 1902, for three hundred dollars and railroad travel expenses, to provide plans for a new library, and the township board hired local builder A.G. Kuehnle for the project. Farmers from throughout the county gathered the fieldstones used to build the Neoclassical structure, which stands on land donated by the four sons of Howell pioneer William McPherson. In 1902, after a request for funds, Andrew Carnegie’s secretary told Howell Township Supervisor W.H.S. Wood that Carnegie would provide ten thousand dollars for a free public library building if the city pledged support for a free library and provided a suitable site. Carnegie, who funded more than 2,500 free public libraries across the English-speaking world, eventually gave Howell fifteen thousand dollars, and in return the township pledged annual support of at least 10 percent of his donation. The library opened on November 19, 1906, and an addition was completed in 1991.