For assistance, contact the Information Desk at 269-673-4625 or fill out the form found here: Genealogy and Local History Research Request Form.
History Questions: email: firstname.lastname@example.org
Allegan District Library Local History Collection has a wide variety of materials.
Please note: All of the materials in the Local History Collection are non-circulating.
Major categories of the ADL collection:
Atlases & Maps:
Maps focusing mainly on the City of Allegan, Allegan County and surrounding counties. Some of the maps are found in atlases and plat books, while others are individual maps.
Over 20 notebooks of records from Allegan County’s 85+ cemeteries are arranged by township, then A-Z by cemetery name.
Census Records – also Ancestry, Heritage Quest:
The complete Allegan County Federal Census Records for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 are available on microfilm.
City/County; Telephone & Cross-Listings Directories:
Includes some city/county directories for Allegan; some of this is only available on microfilm. Telephone directories on microfilm are available for City of Allegan.
County & Local Histories:
ADL has many histories of Allegan at Dewey number M 977.4, M 977.41, M 917.74 (M stands for Michigan collection.)
House & Building Histories:
Includes the books “Sketches of early homes, churches, schools and residents of Allegan, Michigan” number M/M R977.414 SKET and “Fire? Fire? Fire?” published by the Allegan County Historical Society number M628.9 GREE and M R 628.9 GREE.
Veterans and military service notebooks of Allegan Veterans, covering Civil War (including General Pritchard), Revolutionary and even the German P.O.W. Camp in Valley Township during World War II and other wars.
Miscellaneous and Other Histories
This is a varied collection of books and records.
- Digitized newspapers can be found here.
- 1913 Allegan High School Yearbook with photos
- Allegan High School Echos 1939-1984, 1986-198, 1989-2004
- Allegan Junior Hi-Lites 1961, 1964, 1967, 1969-1978, 1983, 1985, 1987-1989, 1992-1996, 1998, 2001-2004
Please note: check the local history & genealogy shelves for more.
Major Local History/Genealogy Sites we use at the Allegan District Library:
Ancestry Library Edition
Free in library use only; Ancestry.com is the pay site. Every US census indexed; databases; plus many Ancestry.com resources.
www.FamilySearch.org – free use anywhere you have internet access.
On our website under Menu tab “Research” on drop down menu click “Mel databases” and then you can access My Heritage Library Edition under eResources.
Please note: You can directly access Michigan Electronic Library website (MEL.org) from home within the state of Michigan.