Join us for an enjoyable program "Albert Hall and the Mason Library" with Carolyn Cooper
ALBERT HALL AND MASON LIBRARY HISTORY IS TIMELY TOPIC FOR NEXT MUSEUM PROGRAM -- The life and times of Albert J. Hall were both remarkably interesting and chock full of unique local history. He started his 67-year banking career in 1887, one year after Farmers Bank opened in downtown Mason, rising from bookkeeper to cashier to president to director. Farmers Bank became known as Mason State Bank in 1962 and is now Commercial Bank.
However, his most lasting contribution to local history is that in the late 1930s, he gave Ingham County the Hall Memorial Library, located at 145 W. Ash Street in downtown Mason. The library is now owned by the City of Mason and operated by Capital Area District Library. After 85 years of continuous operation, the historic building is currently undergoing a major renovation.
On Thursday, June 8, 2023, at 7:00 p.m., historian Carolyn Cooper will present many more details about the interesting story of "Albert Hall and the Mason Library” at a meeting of the Mason Area Historical Society. Carolyn Cooper is a long-time board member of the Society and an award-winning author on local history. The meeting will take place in the Mason Area Historical Museum’s Virginia Schlichter Auditorium at 200 E. Oak Street in downtown Mason. The Society will hold a brief business meeting prior to the program. The program and museum admission are both free and open to the public.
Albert Hall was born in 1862 and his parents Robert and Eliza Hall first came to the area in 1850. His father’s cabinet shop was located at the current site of the Mason Post Office, and the family lived in a home right across the street at the site of the current library. Albert Hall was only nine months old when his father was killed in the Civil War, leaving behind a wife and four children.
Since Albert Hall had to start working at age eight, he never had
a formal education. He was married to Katie Smith in 1883. After her death, he married Ada Rackham Cook. She died in 1936, and it is in her memory that the Mason Library became the Hall Memorial Library two years later. He married for a third time to Minnie Ingalls in 1942. He died at his home on East Oak Street in 1954 at the age of 92.
While attending the program, take time to tour the Museum, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It is also open on Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and by advance appointment. Contact the Mason Area Historical Society at masonmuseum1865@gmail.com by e-mail for arrangements.
