Sage Library, Public library in Bay City, Michigan.

The Sage Library is a rectangular, four-bay-wide red brick building of two and a half stories, set on a multi-colored ashlar fieldstone foundation and trimmed with pink Amherst stone. It follows a revival form of French Châteauesque design, with asymmetrical massing and a steeply pitched hipped roof. A gabled entry bay with a rounded archway and double doors projects from the front, beside a bay rising to the roofline; dormers and a tri-sided roof cap the upper level.

Henry W. Sage donated this French Chateauesque style library to the Bay City community, with its grand opening held on January 16, 1884. The building represents how wealthy citizens of that era invested in public access to books and learning.

The building's original layout survives: the first floor held two schoolrooms, the second floor two large rooms for the reading room and the book collection, and the third floor was at first unfinished. The library opened with 10,000 books, and its collection grew to over 110,000 volumes by the 1970s.

The building is located at 100 E. Midland Street and operates as part of the Bay County Library System. Visitors should note that the structure underwent major renovations in the early 1980s, which affected some of its interior features and functionality.

The library's 1884 opening was not the whole building: the library occupied only the second floor with 10,000 books, while the first floor held school classes and the third was the school superintendent's office. The attic, unfinished until the 2002-04 renovation, became library space.