Amidst today’s heated debate over tall buildings, The Ticker looks back a century to another contentious issue that divided Traverse City residents.

Traverse City’s Carnegie Library, the first library to open in the Grand Traverse region, was once off to a rocky start due to a location dispute that divided the city and -- some say -- put its future in question.

In 1902, renowned philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered a $20,000 gift for a public library to serve the residents of Traverse City (population 9,400). Carnegie had two stipulations – the city must agree to contribute $2,000 annually for maintenance and must provide a suitable site for the library.

Perry Hannah, credited as a founder of Traverse City, volunteered a site on Sixth Street, a sizeable plot at a great price – free. “On one side once of the city’s handsomest residences streets, and on the other the Boardman River. A good view can be had from this point over the bay and being centrally located is a particularly desirable park.”

At first acceptance of the offer appeared inevitable; The Evening Record stated “the council will doubtless accept the proposition.” But some took issue with the location, just west of Hannah’s residence. Soon a second offer came to the Library Board and City Council, this one from Henry S. Hull, president of the Oval Wood Dish Company. Hull proposed the Ashton-Hobbes site, an east side space near the intersection of Cass and State streets.

Hull argued his location would be closer to the downtown business district. He wrote, “The library, will, no doubt contain large and pleasant reading rooms where young men coming down town evenings will drop in and spend an hour or more, if centrally located: whereas if located outside the business district, it will not be patronized to anywhere near the extent that it would be if centrally located, and to just that extent, in our judgement, the purpose of a public library will be defeated.”

Hannah responded by adding 75 additional feet of land (now known as Hannah Park) to his gift, swaying some -- but not all -- city council members. Soon the debate became not only about the library location but also about the method of voting. Hull proposed an unorthodox approach of a putting the decision to a vote of residents and accepting their decision as final.

Though the stakes of the feud seem tame by modern standards, emotions ran high in 1903. Newly elected Mayor Santo reluctantly endorsed the Sixth street site, but was put off by the controversy. “We are confronted with no greater problem than that commonly known as ‘The Library Site,'" he wrote. "It cannot be denied that there exists in our city a division of opinion on this subject that has assumed such proportions as to threaten our best interests. To continue longer in this channel will unquestionably very seriously affect our welfare.”

In March 1904, despite continued opposition, Hannah’s Sixth Street site was accepted and a contract was awarded during a special meeting of the city council, putting the matter to rest.

A “happy outcome to a long and bitter fight… There was a feeling in the air that the controversy which had disrupted the city had been finally wiped out and that the proverbial harmony which characterized the city’s progress in former years prevailed again,” wrote The Evening Record.

The Carnegie Library opened its doors in February of 1905; 350 residents visited its first day.