Mount Clemens Carnegie Library / Anton Art Center

Originally a small, four-room library when it was built in 1904-1905, this building was financed by Pittsburgh steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It was the first purpose-built public library building in the city of Mount Clemens; the public library had been housed in various rented quarters to that point. The Neo-Classical building was designed by Mount Clemens architect Theophilus Van Damme, according to standards set by the Carnegie Foundation. It opened to the public in February 1905 and housed the library until 1969, when a larger facility was built on Cass Avenue. After the departure of the library, the building became the home of The Art Center, now the Anton Art Center. It was registered as a Michigan Historic Site in 1978, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 2021.

The city of Mount Clemens was known as the "Bath City of America" at the turn of the twentieth century, and hosted thousands of visitors every year who sought relief in the town's famous mineral baths. The visitors also placed demands upon the public library, which at the time was housed in rented quarters. Local officials began to lobby industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie for funds to build a new public library building in their city. Their request was granted in 1903, and the Mount Clemens Public Library building became the first Carnegie Library to be built in Macomb County. It is one out of 1,681 such libraries across the United States financed by Carnegie.

The Mount Clemens Monitor reported on July 31, 1903:

"Brehler & Hasselhuhn are at work on the new library building, and Robt. Nichols has the masonry contract. The building will have a front on Grand avenue of 66 feet, a depth of 55 feet. It will be 37 feet high to the cornice, 36.6 to the top of the roof. The building will sit on a lot of five dimensions, 81 feet at front and back, 130 feet on North avenue, and with two angles of 90 feet on the east. This will give plenty of room."

Mount Clemens architect Theophilus Van Damme, who had designed many of Mount Clemens' bathhouses, hotels, and residences, was selected to design the library building. Van Damme followed specifications laid out by Carnegie's staff.

The building opened to the public in February 1905 and housed Mount Clemens Public Library, with some additions and alterations, until 1969, when a new library building was opened nearby on Cass Avenue.

After the library building vacated the Carnegie building, became the home of The Art Center, a community-based non-profit organization which fosters the visual arts through exhibits, classes, and tours in the area. Several organizations made their cases for use of the building before the Mount Clemens City Commission, which deliberated and awarded the lease of the property to the Art Association.

In 2005, with a major gift from Gebran and Suzanne Anton, a large modern addition was made to the south side of the building, and the facility was renamed the Anton Art Center when it re-opened in 2006.

NOTE: Due to street name revisions in Mount Clemens, the postal address of this building—but not its physical location—was changed. When built, it bore the address of 3 Grand Avenue. Grand Avenue was later discontinued at North Avenue, and the portion of the street on which the library was situated became part of Macomb Street, later changed to Macomb Place. The current address of 125 Macomb Place is the same physical location that was formerly known as 3 Grand Avenue.

Margaret S. Demant to the City of Mount Clemens, July 15, 1902, consideration $3000, land in the city of Mount Clemens bounded by Macomb Street, North Avenue and Grand Avenue, Macomb County Record of Deeds, liber 123, page 291.

"Brehler & Hasselhuhn are at work on the new library building...," Mount Clemens Monitor, July 31, 1903.

Schabath, Gene, "Library may get another 'life' in Mt. Clemens," Detroit News, February 28, 1968.

"Several groups bid for old library in Mount Clemens," Macomb Daily, May 29, 1969.

Emmert, John. "Art Association gets old library," Macomb Daily, June 3, 1969.

"May turn 'old' library into 'new' art center," Mount Clemens Community News, June 11, 1969.

"An 'old building' takes on a new challenge," Macomb Daily, September 22, 1969.

"New look and career for a 'retired' library," Macomb Daily, October 9, 1969.

"Art Center holds first open house," Macomb Daily, November 21, 1969.

Latreille, S. J. "Macomb pushes art," Detroit News, December 11, 1969, p.1E.

Hotts, Mitch. "Art Center look and title to change in 2006," Macomb Daily, September 4, 2005.

Bitsoli, Stephen. "Anton Art Center opens," Macomb Daily, September 12, 2006.

Koch, Theodore Wesley. A Book of Carnegie Libraries. White Plains, N.Y.: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1917.