Charles Henry Hackley was born January 3, 1837 in Michigan City, Indiana, the oldest of five children of Salina (Fuller) and Joseph Henry Hackley. In 1847 he moved with his family to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where his father was in the building trades. By age 14, Hackley had left school and was driving a horse for 15 cents a day. In 1856, at 19, he worked his way from Kenosha to Muskegon on the schooner "Challenge" to join his father, who had been commissioned to build a sawmill along Muskegon Lake. The day after his arrival in May of 1856, he went to work shoveling sawdust into a boiler in the lumber yard of Durkee, Truesdale and Co. at a monthly wage of $22, a figure soon raised to $26. When the mill closed that fall Truesdale sent him to the lumber camps to scale logs.
The previous summer, young Hackley had learned office procedure and the basics of the lumbering business in the company store in the evening after his day's work outside. When a slow time at the lumber mill occurred, Truesdale suggested that he return to Kenosha for a six-week bookkeeping course. Hackley finished it in four weeks and returned to Muskegon. Meanwhile, the Durkee Truesdale firm had been liquidated and Gideon Truesdale headed its successor. Charles Hackley assumed charge of the books, the supply store, and lumber shipments for $30 a month.
The city's sawmills formed, changed, closed, and reformed. Hackley's family followed him to Muskegon and founded the lumbering firm of Hackley and Sons. This later evolved into the lucrative partnership of Hackley and Hume. This firm was one of the largest operators in the country, cutting 30,000,000 feet of lumber a year at its peak in 1894. In 1864, Charles Hackley married Julia Ester Moore. They adopted one son, Charles Moore Hackley, in 1898, and raised a foster daughter, Erie Caughell (Hackley).
Hackley amassed a fortune of $18,000,000, one third of which he gave back to Muskegon. His first gift, given in 1888, was for the construction of Hackley Public Library. He served on the Board of Education of the Muskegon Public Schools for twenty years, was an alderman and a state delegate to two national Republican conventions.
Hackley died on February 10, 1905, of a ruptured aneurysm. He lay in state in what is now the Children's Room of the Library and more than 7,000 mourners passed the casket.
Materials available for checkout:
The Great Lakes, p. 268, "C.H. Hackley best representative of the lumber barons," by Harlan Henthorne Hatcher. 977 H282g
The Life of Charles Henry Hackley: Drawn from Old Public and Family Records, by Louis P. Haight. 1948. B H116h (Also available in the Local History Department)
Our Old House: the Hackley House (video recording) 1994. VHS 997.457 Our (v.1-3)
Portrait and Biographical Record of Muskegon and OttawaCounties, p. 324. 977.457 P853 (Also available in the Local History Department)
Reference materials in the Local History Department (call numbers beginning with “LH”) or in storage as noted:
Agreement between Charles H. Hackley and Thomas Hume of Muskegon, Michigan. n.d. qLH R 977.457 H116a
American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men, Michigan Volume, p. 43. 1878. B3 R 920 Am351 (storage)
American Forests, v. 44, April 1938, p. 166 and 188. "Historic lumber towns #3" by Steward H. Holbrook. (Torrent House storage)
American Lumbermen: The Personal History and Public Business Achievements of One Hundred Eminent Lumbermen in the U.S., p. 223. 1905. B3 R 920 Am355, v.1
Anniversary of His Death Observed by Central Civic Club and An Invitation Extended to Board of Education. 1925. LH R 977.457 Sch65ed
Appreciation of gifts of C. H. Hackley. Hackley Memorial Association. LH R 977.457 H116
Benefactions of C. H. Hackley. Hackley Memorial Association. 1928. LH R 977.457 H116gm
Biographical Sketches of Mr. Hackley. Library Scrapbook (Local History Department)
Charles Henry Hackley: Biographical Sketches. 1972. LH R B H116
The Charles H. Hackley Scrapbook. (Newspaper clippings on Mr. Hackley and his gifts to the city of Muskegon). (Local History Department)
A Civic and Industrial Survey of the Muskegon Area and Western Michigan, p. 210. 1938. (gifts to the city and board of education). R 977.457 C355ci (Local History Office)
Cyclopedia of Michigan: Historical and Biographical, Comprising a Synopsis of General History of the State and Biographical Sketches of Men, p. 78, by John Bersey. 1890. B3 R 920 C992 (storage)
Dictionary of American Biography, v.8. 1936. R 920 D561 (reference collection)
The Hackley House, by Bertha M. Freye and Mildred L. Johnson. 1961. LH R 977.457 H629hf
The Hackley Legacy to Muskegon, Michigan, by Linda Beghtol Wiersema. 1989. LH R 977.457 H116w
The Hackley ManualTraining School and Gymnasium, Muskegon, Michigan, 1905-1906. Biographical sketch of Charles Henry Hackley. LH R 977.457 Sch65m
Hackley, Charles Henry, and Hume, Thomas: Papers. 1976. LH R 977.457 H116pe
Headlight Flashes. (short sketch) LH R 977.457 M974 R132h
Historic Michigan, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 54. LH R 977.4 F958h
Historical Sketch of the MuskegonSchools, p. 14 and 31 by Addie Littlefield. 1921. LH R 977.457 Sch65L
History of Michigan, v. 1, p. 605; v. 4, p. 1935, by Charles Moore. 1915. LH R 977.4 M781h
History of Muskegon and Ottawa counties, Michigan, p. 72-73. 1882. LH R 977.457 M974 D488
Interpretive Study Manual for the Hackley and Hume Historic Site, Muskegon, Michigan. 1961. LH R 977.457 H116i
Life after Lumbering: Charles Henry Hackley and the Emergence of Muskegon, Michigan, by Richard Henry Harms. LH R 977.457 H228L
Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Farragut: An Account of the Gift, the Erection and the Dedication of the Bronze Statues Given by Charles H. Hackley to the City of Muskegon, Michigan. 1900. LH R 977.457 H116gL
Lumber and Forest Industry of the Northwest, p.224 (sketch with photographs), by George W. Hotchkiss. 1898. LH R 977.4 H797h
Making of Muskegon: An Interpretive Study of Charles Henry Hackley, by Janie Lynn Panagopoulos. 1989. LH R 977.457 H116p
Men of Michigan, p. 335. B3 R 920 M5198 (storage)
Men of Progress, Embracing Biographical Sketches of Representative Michigan Men with an Outline History of the State, p. 437. 1990. B3 R 920 M523 (storage)
Michigan Historical Collections, v. 35, p.54. "Memorial sketch" by Mary E. Chamberlain. LH R 977.4 M582h
Annual of the MuskegonCountyPioneer and Historical Society Annual for the Year 1887, p. 27. LH R 977.457 M974 M974a
Photographs of the Hackley Family. Muskegon Picture Collection. (Local History Office)
Proceedings of the Muskegon County Board of Supervisors, "Resolutions adopted in memory of Charles H. Hackley. 1905. R 977.457 MC97su (Local History Office)
Public Schools of the City of Muskegon Bond $75,000 Issued to Hon. Charles H. Hackley in Acceptance of his Proposition to Provide a Fund of $75,000 for the Support of the Hackley Public Library Forever. R 977.457 Sch65Lm (Glass case 24, Torrent House)
Resolutions Adopted by the Board of Education Accepting the Hon. Charles H. Hackley's Gift of $130,000 for the Establishment, Equipment, and Maintenance of a Manual Training School. 1896. R 977.457 Sch65mr (Glass case 24, Torrent House)
Said And Done (MuskegonHigh School Yearbook), February 1905. (Local History Office)
Statues of Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Farragut Unveiled; Address by John Patton, Delivered May 30, 1900. R 977.457 M974stp (Glass case 24, Torrent House)
Souvenir of Muskegon. “The Gifts to the City of Muskegon by Charles H. Hackley.” LH R 977.457 H116g
In addition to the materials on this list, numerous articles on Charles Henry Hackley have been published over the years in the Muskegon Chronicle. Many of these are indexed in the Local History Subject Index and are available for viewing on microfilm. The Local History Department is located in the lower level of the Hackley Public Library.
Compiled by Reference Librarian Marilyn Ryan, edited by Damien Rostar (2/9/09).
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