| When it opened in 1914, the Weston
Public Library was approximately
4,200 sq. ft. (70 ft. x 30 ft on each floor). Over time, the library became outdated and
overcrowded – it was "roughly the same size as a typical
suburban bungalow including its two-car garage," architect
Donald R. Rankin noted in 1978. Dunlop, Farrow & Aitken Architects designed a renovation
and an addition, almost tripling the size of the original building to 11,944 sq. ft. (1,111 sq. m.). The work was
planned
for the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Weston in 1981.
The library was officially reopened on September 11, 1982.
The Weston Public Library Board had been taken over by the Borough
of York Public Library Board in 1967, when the Town of Weston became
part of the Borough of York. The York Public Library Board in 1982
was comprised of Frank Lambert (chairman), C. Douglas Cuthbert (vice-chariman),
Fergy Brown (mayor’s representative), Alberto DiGiovanni,
Josef Galambosy, Ian McGeachan, James Pole-Langdon, F. Roy Rutherford,
Harriet Wolman and Bohus Derer (director and secretary treasurer).
Some artifacts relating to the early history of Weston are displayed at Weston Library, including the shovel used by Prince Arthur, third son of Queen Victoria, when he turned the first sod for the Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway at Weston on October 5, 1869. Three days after the ceremony, the Toronto Globe provided a full description of the "beautiful spade:" "The blade was made of steel plated with silver, and the handle of cunningly carved Canadian oak, and an artistically designed maple leaf of frosted silver connected the two, and the whole reflected the greatest credit on the taste of Mr. J. E. Ellis, by whom it was furnished." 1
1 "Turning of the first sod of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway by Prince Arthur." Toronto Globe, 8 October 1869, 3 [Globe and Mail - Canada's Heritage from 1844] (August 8, 2005)
|
