90 Years at the Strathcona Library

The Strathcona Public Library was officially opened on March 13, 1913. This event culminated a six-year effort to establish a library by the citizens of the former City of Strathcona.

The City of Strathcona owed its origins to the decision of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway Company in 1891 to build a new town site on the south side, rather than crossing the North Saskatchewan River into the established community of Edmonton. The Company had anticipated that the north side residents would move to this location and a new Edmonton would rise on the south side. This relocation, however, failed to materialize and the twin cities of Strathcona and Edmonton emerged.

The efforts to establish a public library in Strathcona began in May, 1907 when a committee of ministers and laymen from each of the churches of Strathcona presented a petition to Strathcona City Council. At the May 21 meeting, Council was advised by its Finance Committee that the petition contained a sufficient number of names as required by the new Public Libraries Act and recommended that the petition be approved. The Council, however did not take an active interest in promoting the idea since it was pre-occupied at the time with other matters, including the construction of a new city hall and market building. Rev. W. R. George, the secretary of the committee and rector of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, was thus requested to “put in a satisfactory estimate of the cost to the City and locate the necessary rooms for library and reading room.” This committee did not meet this request. Instead, it made enquiries as to the possibility of obtaining funds for the construction of a library from Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie, an American industrialist and philanthropist, had made funds available for the construction of libraries on a large scale since 1896. No response to this request was received prior to the departure of Rev. George in 1910.

A far more successful effort to establish a library, however, began Oct. 4, 1910, when a small group met under the chairmanship of E. L. Hill in the Council chambers to discuss the need for a library. Hill, prior to his appointment as the Inspector of Schools for the Strathcona District in 1909, had played a major role in the development of libraries in Guelph, Ontario and Calgary. He was later appointed City of Edmonton librarian in 1912. This meeting led to the creation of committees to pursue the creation of a library board and the possibility of a grant from Andrew Carnegie.

With respect to the first objective, immediate success was achieved as a result of the strong support for the idea from the Strathcona City Council. On Dec. 12, 1910, the library by-law was approved by the ratepayers and in January 1911, the City Council appointed the first members to the Library Board, dedicated a site for the construction of a building and committed itself to providing operating funds.

Negotiations with Carnegie were, however, less successful. In response to the request from Strathcona for $25,000, Carnegie offered a grant of $15,000, which he felt was sufficient for a library for city the size of Strathcona.

Strathcona, however was not prepared to compromise on the standards for the type of library it wanted to build. In December 1911, the City suspended its negotiations with Carnegie and proceeded with the construction of the library as a municipal public work, according to plans prepared by the local architectural firm of Wilson and Herrald.

In February, 1913, the Strathcona Library building was finished and the installation of its furnishings and the shelving of its collection of 11,000 books began. Strathcona officially opened March 13, 1913.

During its first nine and a half months of operation the total number of books circulated by the Strathcona Library was 53,121. Seven staff members served the public: E. L. Hill, Librarian; Grace Sanders, Chief Assistant; Nellie Ellis, Assistant Cataloguer; Edith Calder, Loan Desk Assistant; Frances Sawyer, Reference Assistant; Charles Flack, Page; and Arthur McKewon, Caretaker and Messenger. There were 3,500 card holders in its first year of operation.

Circulation of books at Strathcona was steady following its merger with the Edmonton Public Library. However, with the introduction of the streetcar library (1941); bookmobiles (1947 and 1948), and other branch libraries between 1953 and 1984, circulation in Strathcona experienced a steady decline. The circulation in 1969 lingered at 200,000 a year and registered readers at 4,000, an increase of only 500 since 1913.

In 1970 the Edmonton Public Library Board considered closing the branch to save costs. A “Friends of Strathcona” group was formed and a petition to save the library helped the Library Board change its mind.

In 1976 the Strathcona library was designated a registered historical resource by Alberta Culture in recognition of its association with the City of Strathcona and the growth of that community prior to World War I.

In 1978 the Library Board conducted a study on restoration of the branch. The sum of $407,000 was needed for the project, not including furniture. An application was sent to the Kresge Foundation for $346,520 toward the restoration project. The application was turned down.

It wasn’t until 1984 that the Library Board decided to go ahead with renovations, this time in partnership with the Old Strathcona Foundation. Due to the economic downturn in the City, the cost was now only $300,000, $285,000 of which came from a trust fund set aside by the sale of the City of Edmonton’s old main library on MacDonald Drive. The remaining balance of $15,000 came from the Old Strathcona Foundation.

Strathcona library was closed from July 16, 1984, to Jan. 20, 1985, for extensive renovations under the direction of project architect R. R. Roberts Ltd. of Edmonton. The project aimed to preserve the original architectural details of the building and at the same time add improvements to the heating, plumbing and ventilation systems. Many fine architectural details, such as a fireplace, previously hidden behind a wall, is now exposed and refurbished.