| When it first opened, the main floor
of the Weston Public Library, seen here, housed the library and
a reading room. A lecture room, the board room and two washrooms
were in the basement; later the children’s department was
relocated there. By the end of 1915, its first year of operation
in the new building, the Weston Public Library served the town’s
2,186 residents with a collection of 4,040 volumes that circulated
14,508 times. It also subscribed to 30 magazines and newspapers-
some were stored on the racks visible on the lower right.
The Weston Public Library opened on Tuesday, December 29, 1914.
Two days later, a local newspaper published this enthusiastic report:
The formal opening of the Weston Carnegie Library
building took place on Tuesday night. The new building recently
completed is a fine specimen of architecture and a splendid tribute
to the untiring energy and perseverance of the Board of Directors.
A person entering the building is impressed with the idea that the
Board has left nothing undone to make for the comfort and convenience
of patrons and visitors. The lights are restful to the eye and seem
to the casual observer to be all that can be desired.1
The Weston Public Library Board in 1914 was comprised of Joseph
Nason (Chairman), W. J. Bourke (Secretary), Levi H. Mercer (Treasurer),
A. L. Campbell, John J. Dalton (Chairman of the Carnegie Committee),
Dr. E. F. Irvin, Nelson J. McEwen, Thomas J. Maguire and Thomas
Moore.
1F.D.
Cruickshank and J. Nason. History of Weston. Originally
printed by The Times and Guide, Weston, Ontario, 1937. Toronto:
Weston Historical Society, 1983, 117-18.
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