History

In 1869 the Grand Blanc Ladies Library Association organized the first public library in the Grand Blanc area. It continued until 1892.

The second public library in Grand Blanc was established on July 24, 1939.  Although it was called the Grand Blanc Township Library, it received financial support from the city, township and school district of Grand Blanc. It was housed in a room at Grand Blanc High School.

A branch of the Grand Blanc Library was opened in a cleaner’s window near the post office in 1945, with about 500 books available for checkout. It is not known how long the branch lasted.
On June 10, 1966 the various governmental units supporting the Grand Blanc Library met to prepare a proposal for joining the Genesee County Library. On August 17 the Grand Blanc Library Board met with county library officials to discuss the proposal.

On January 1, 1967 the Grand Blanc Library joined the Genesee County Library (now known as the Genesee District Library). It was housed in a room in the old Township Hall on Grand Blanc Road.

In 1968, under the leadership of its chairperson Arthur Letts, the board which governed library matters at that time spearheaded a campaign to build a new library, which could house a larger borrowing collection than its tiny Township Hall location could.

In 1969 a friends group, which remains active today under the name Friends of the McFarlen Library, was organized to help raise funds for library improvements.

After years of fundraising and planning, a new 12,000 square-foot public library building opened on August 5, 1973 at the current location on Perry Road. It was named the McFarlen Public Library after the Joseph McFarlen family, which donated the 2.5 acre site on which it was built. Funding for the library came from a 1.5 tax mill levy passed in 1970, grants from both the Federal Library Services and Construction Act and the DeWaters Charitable Trust fund, and donations by individual residents.