To mark the 111th anniversary of the building, Friends of Port Elgin Branch Library will reveal a second set of placqued photographs on Thursday afternoon, December 5 from 3:00 to 4:30. Everyone is welcome to celebrate another milestone of this heritage building.
Dianne Gowan, interim chair of the Friends, says, “The four new plaques are our legacy from the grand celebrations in 2018. They compliment six photographs mounted and hung to mark the library’s 105th birthday.”
An image taken from a glass negative shows the Royal Hotel, which occupied the site at Elgin and Goderich streets until destroyed by fire. This archival image also shows two significant buildings still standing, as well as a church later demolished. The floor plans for the Carnegie library drawn by Port Elgin architect S.G. Kinsey attracted much interest. Library patrons will now be able to study the details of the original building, with its reading room, lecture hall, and smoking room. A photograph from 1909 shows the completed exterior.
The most recent photograph was taken by Lindsay Thornburn in 1953, showing the newly-acquired bookmobile serving the Bruce County Public Library, with the Library Board members and van driver.
This image and the view of the site before 1901 appear courtesy of the Archives at Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.
The Friends of the Port Elgin Library
invite you to the Library’s
111th Birthday
Come for some birthday cake and the reveal of our new placqued photographs
Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019
from 3- 4:30
The Friends will be serving birthday cake and offering commemorative notecards for sale as part of their fund-raising to enhance library programs and services. A registered charity, the Friends are a small but active group who welcome new members at any time during the year.
