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Free at-home COVID-19 Test Kits are available at the front desk. If you are experiencing symptoms, please call for curbside or locker pickup.
About Henika
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A Place to Grow.
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MISSION STATEMENT
To encourage community and personal growth through diverse materials, services, and experiences.
ABOUT US
Henika District Library was built in 1899 and has faithfully served the area for over a hundred years. Our mission is to encourage community and personal growth through diverse materials, services, and experiences.
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Our district serves Wayland City and Wayland Township, but we are also a member of the Lakeland Library Cooperative, which includes 41 other libraries within West Michigan - all with reciprocal borrowing and interlibrary loan options. Additionally, we participate in the MelCat statewide catalog, which means millions of items are at your fingertips.
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To top it off, Henika District Library does not charge overdue fines for any materials. However, patrons who borrow materials from other libraries will still be subject to that library's overdue fines and bills policies.
HISTORY
Long before Wayland had a public library, there was the Ladies Library Club—a small group of local women who regularly gathered to share books, host discussions, and enjoy each other's company. They met in one another’s homes, where they would talk about literature, perform skits they had written, and engage in lively conversations on topics ranging from ancient Egypt to modern aviation.
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Although Julia Henika was not a member of the club, she deeply admired its mission. An educated and cultured woman, Julia was born on March 4, 1840, the second child of John and Mary Robinson. She attended the Phipps' Female Seminary in Albion, New York, where she studied literature and music.
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Julia’s life was marked by both love and loss. She first married David Wing in 1861, and they had two daughters—both of whom sadly died in infancy. David passed away in 1867. Two years later, Julia married Capt. B.H. Dyckman, a Civil War veteran who served as Captain of Company A, Third Michigan Cavalry. They had no children, and Dyckman died in 1889.
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In 1893, Julia married George H. Henika, a prominent furniture businessman in Wayland. The couple lived together in their home on South Main Street until Julia’s death on March 29, 1899, from heart disease. Her obituary described her as “a kind and loving wife, always cheerful and with a kindly word for everyone, always ready to help the needy—especially children.”
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Julia is buried in Gun Plain Township, near where she spent her early years. In a final act of generosity, she left $2,000 in her will to establish a Ladies Library in Wayland—a gift that laid the foundation for what is now the Henika District Library, a lasting tribute to her love of learning and community. An addition was added in 1968 and, with the assistance of a grant, the interior was restored in 1995. What started as a one-room building is now roughly 3,400 square-feet of space to serve our community.
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The library has had an official librarian on staff since 1916. Since then, our staff has grown and now provides a cultural information hub of library services six days a week to all of Wayland City and Wayland Township.
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