While construction work to replace the seawall and boardwalk along the Leland Township Public Library could begin as early as spring, a quiet campaign is currently underway to secure enough funding from key donors for the estimated $900,000 project.
In October, the Leland Township board voted 4-1 to transfer the Munnecke Deed property, which includes the Munnecke Room that the township meets in every month, to the library. A 2020 engineering study identified an “eventual structural failure of the seawall,” leading to the township agreeing to the transfer of ownership of the property and seawall in order to expedite the replacement.
Wilbur Munnecke, the former publisher of the Chicago Sun Times, and his wife, Louise, originally purchased the property and then gave it to Leland Township in 1974 so that a library, meeting room, and museum could be built. The Leelanau Historical Society Museum (LHS), as well the Munnecke Room which serves as a community meeting room, is also considered part of the Leland Cultural Campus. The seawall was built the following year in 1975 on the donated property as part of the construction of a new Leland Library.
