Imlay City's public library grew from an idea discussed by the Women's Study Club in October 1921, which raised money by staging three plays in the town opera house. The first library opened in January 1923 at the town hall on the corner of Fourth and Almont Avenue with 450 books. In 1927, after a 1/8 mill tax was passed, the library became part of Imlay Township. After ten years it moved from the town hall to Dr. Braidwood's office at Almont Avenue and Fifth Street, remained there for two years, and then moved to a building behind the Lapeer County Bank building on Bancroft Street, where it stayed for 16 years. In 1951, a new building was constructed by Frank Wiegersma to house both the library and the township office, and it served as the Imlay Township Hall and Library until 1985, when a new township office facility was built across from the township cemetery on Fairgrounds Road. The building continued as the Imlay Township Library until 1989, when a new library funded by a trust from Ruth Hughes, a native of Imlay City, was built, and its dedication in January 1990 gave it the name Ruth Hughes Memorial Library. Library business continues on the original site at Fourth and Almont Avenue, and in 1998 the 1951 building was sold to Harry F. Hovey American Legion Post 135 for use as its headquarters.