page_title: Chelsea Commercial Historic District
section_title: McKune Memorial Library
hierarchical_section_title: Chelsea Commercial Historic District / Significant structures / McKune Memorial Library
caption_attribution_description: English: McKune House Hotel Chelsea MI
context_page_description: The Chelsea Commercial Historic District is a historic district located along both sides of Main Street from Orchard to North Street in Chelsea, Michigan; the district also includes the adjacent 100 blocks of Jackson, East Middle, and West Middle Streets, as well as structures on Park, East, and Orchard Streets. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
context_section_description: The McKune Memorial Library, also known as the McKune House, is a public building located at 221 Shouth Main Street.
  Elisha Congdon was one of Chelsea's first residents, arriving in 1832.  He built a log house on this spot at that time; the log house burned down in 1849, and Congdon replaced it with a frame structure.  In 1860, he moved the frame house and built this brick structure in its place.  Congdon lived in the house until he died in 1867.  In 1870, businessman Timothy McKune purchased the house and converted it into a hotel called the "McKune House Hotel."  McKune's son Edward took over the property in 1909, but as the 20th century progressed, the hotel saw less business, and turned into more of a rooming house.
  In the 1940s, the Friends of the Chelsea Library was organized, and they began looking for a suitable home for the library.  They approached Edward McKune's widow, Katherine Staffan McKune; in 1956 she offered to give the McKune house to the library upon her death.  That occurred two years later, in 1958.  The Friends of the Chelsea Library did extensive renovation work, and in 1959 the library opened.  A wing was added in 1961.  The front porch was reconstructed to replicate the original porch in 1995. In 2004, the original building was again renovated, and another wing was constructed.
caption: McKune House Hotel, c. 1874
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