Windsor (Ont.). Public Library

The first public library established in the Border Cities was opened in 1894 at Lambie’s Hall on Ferry St. in Windsor. In 1903, a financial gift from Andrew Carnegie enabled the library to relocate to a larger structure on Victoria and Park Streets- the Carnegie Library. Extended library services was offered in Walkerville in 1896 and continued until 1904, when Walkerville opened its own public library. In 1914, the Windsor East Branch opened in Lanspeary’s Drug Store, moving in 1920 to a larger location on Parent Ave. Sandwich also relied upon extension services from 1921 until the establishment of their own library in the Sandwich Town Hall in 1923. Library service expanded further with the opening of the John Richardson Library in 1928 and the South Branch Library at Hugh Beaton School in 1929. Financial constraints caused the closure of the Windsor East Branch in 1933. Children’s branch libraries opened in Prince Edward and Victoria Public Schools in 1933 and 1934, respectively. After the amalgamation of the Border Cities in 1935, the libraries came under direct control of the City of Windsor. Anne Hume, librarian of Walkerville, and backed by former members of the Walkerville Library Board, successfully petitioned the provincial government to amend the Amalgamation Act to allow for a library board in 1937. As a result, the new system made J.E. Benson Memorial, John Richardson, Prince Edward, Hugh Beaton, and Victoria Public branch libraries, with the Willistead and Carnegie Libraries operating as the two main libraries within the Windsor Public Library System. In 1941, the Winston Churchill branch was opened within the St. Alphonsus Separate School. This branch closed in 1952, replaced the following year with the Seminole branch library. In 1955 the Riverside Library was constructed and operated independently until added as a branch of the Windsor Public Library system in 1966