Part 1 in a series

After noticing an old sign bearing the words ‘The Christian Slayton Public Library’ over the fireplace in the adult room of the Oxford Public Library, visitors often ask, “Who is Christian Slayton?”
“Well, Christian Slayton wasn’t a person,” explained Library Director Bryan Cloutier the evening of Feb. 10 in a fireside chat beneath that very sign, “But, Mrs. Nellie Slayton was a person.”
When Slayton died in 1901, she donated a vacant lot on Hovey Street to the Christian Church. When the church was disbanded, the money from the sale of that lot was set aside for the eventual purchase of a library building. It wasn’t until 1925 that the Christian Slayton Public Library was established in what later became known as the Veteran’s Building, today occupied by HomeGrown Brewing downtown.
The library has been open continuously since then, occupying four homes and having only five head librarians in its 95 year history. “That says a lot about this institution and about this community and the people who live here. To only have five head librarians is quite a remarkable accomplishment,” Cloutier told the audience of about 25 people gathered to hear the history of the library before the Friends of the Library annual meeting.
Cloutier related the genealogy of past library directors. The first head librarian was Margaret Duff Mathieson who served from 1925 to 1942. Lillian Crawford served the longest from 1942 to 1976. Renwick Garypie, who today lives on the west coast of the United States, served from 1976 to 1984. Then Judy Doublestein served from 1984 to 2007. Cloutier has served from 2007 to the present.
“It has been a joy to be here and to be a part of this,” he said. “We are going to be celebrating our 100th anniversary in just five years from now. I’m looking forward, should all of you allow me to have that privilege, to being here when we celebrate that as well.”
In 1939 the library moved from the Veteran’s Building to the Howser house, believed to be the oldest dwelling in Oxford at the time, on Mechanic Street near where Parker Veterinary Clinic is today. “When they raised that house, it was a very sad thing because it was such a beautiful old place and it is sad to know it is no longer part of our community.”
In 1967, the library changed its name from Christian Slayton to the Oxford Public Library and moved to the village office complex on Burdick Street. At that time, standing at street level looking at the complex from Burdick St., the left wing of the complex was the township offices, the right wing was the village offices and Oxford Police Department/jail and right in the middle bridging the offices together was the Oxford Public Library.
An outside book drop is still built into the village office building. “I still have keys to that old book drop, which is really cool.”
By 1994, the community had outgrown its little library. The community rallied together to support a bond proposal to build the 23,400 square foot building the library has on Pontiac Rd. today, which opened in late 1996.
“To this day, when people come in here, they can’t imagine this building being as old as it is.” Cloutier says that’s because Seth Penchansky, who was a senior architect under David Milling and associates, designed the building so when you enter through the front doors and walk around the fish aquarium, “you are meant to feel like you are still outside looking in.”
First you are met with the atrium in the foyer. The children’s room has the glass cases that are supposed to mirror windows. Likewise, the adult room on the left side of the building has windows with limestone sills. The Judith A. Doublestein perennial garden in the middle of the building brings in natural light from the outdoors into our building. Finally, if you come on a very sunny day, there is a vibrant rainbow effect on the ceiling of the adult room, cast from windows along the roof with a special film.
According to Cloutier, Oxford’s library is one of only two in the state of Michigan that have this feature. The other is the main branch of the Kalamazoo Public Library, also designed by Seth Penchansky. “If you’ve not seen it, it really is quite an amazing thing. It’s a very beautiful sight. We are very privileged to have such a beautiful building.”
Cloutier wants to preserve the legacy of “an iconic figure in our community,” Duane Salswedel, who was both the longest serving continuous board member and the longest serving chairman of the board for the library. He served well over 30 years.
The fireplace Cloutier sat next to was donated by the Friends of the Library. When they were designing it, the architect wanted to bring in the stones for the fireplace all the way from the Upper Peninsula.
“Okay,” Cloutier paused “. . . Dwayne was also an executive at American Aggregates here in Oxford.”
The crowd laughed.
“So, I can tell you, that wasn’t happening. He couldn’t believe that with Oxford being the gravel capital of the world, at least at that time, we were going to bring in stones for our fireplace from outside of Oxford. It was just unheard of.”
Whenever Cloutier has the opportunity to sit by the fire and admire the stonework, it reminds him of the legacy Salswedel left at the library. “It’s just a comfortable feeling.”

Read the rest, next week!