The first known tool library is believed to have started in 1943 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, as an effort to help a younger generation learn how to use tools at a time when equipment was not widely available because of World War II.
“We have a member who’s making coffee tables, so they needed a lot of pipe clamps or wire clamps,” tool librarian Christian Russell told MTN News.
In Philadelphia, the West Philly Tool Library recently had a tool sale to support its library of 4,000 tools available to its 2,600 members.
The West Seattle Tool Library, started in 2009, was highlighted by Popular Mechanics and led to the library creating a resource to help other communities form their own.
“You really could do an entire project out of the tool library without having anything on your own,” Stephanie Davis, Greater Michigan Construction Academy Tool Library president, told the Midland Daily News.