Onward we go to Kirkton, another South Team branch. Things got started in 1913 when the Women’s Institute started a library with a $75.18 donation. A further $39.55 was raised by the Women’s Institute through the proceeds of a lawn social. However, where the library was housed at this time is not known.

Back in the early 20^th century, many libraries, possibly even all libraries, had an annual subscription fee. Kirkton was no exception. In 1913, you had to pay $1 a year to use the library. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but consider this – in 1914, the librarian was a certain Mr. Gunning, and he received a salary of $15 that year. This means that $1.00 was about 3 and a half weeks of Mr. Gunning’s pay!

By 1915, things were looking up for our friend Mr. Gunning – that year, his salary was raised to $20. I wonder if they had to give him a raise because that year, the Kirkton Library was open for 78 hours a week! Just a wild number of hours! Today, Kirkton is open 20 hours a week, and Goderich, the branch with the most hours in the County, is open 54 hours. Kirkton had way more back in 1915!

When we move ahead to 1923, we find out that the library was located on the former Switzer property “on which was erected a two-story wooden dwelling and a frame barn.” The timing of the move to this location was rather fortunate. Shortly after the move, a fire completely destroyed the store that the library had previously been housed in. By 1927, the library bought the property outright, and in exchange for her services, the librarian was permitted to live in the house with her husband. This location was on Lot #9 on the southeast border of Usborne. If you go check it out, be sure not to disturb the current residents. 

George and Alma Mills looking east at the weigh scales building about 1935. The Kirkton Library is across the highway on the right with librarian Verda Morrison in front. To the south of the library the Roy McNaughton home with Bertha (Bickell) McNaughton and son Ralph. Source for this photo and the photo of the community centre above: Village Connections: the settlement and history of Kirkton and Woodham by the Huron County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

Back in those days, not all public libraries were financially supported by the government, and Kirkton was one of these. In order to raise funds and keep the lights on, the library put on a number of events, including garden parties, euchre parties, and ice carnivals. I wish they still had ice carnivals today!

Ten years later, in 1937, it was time for a burning! The board held a special meeting where all attendees witnessed the burning of the library’s mortgage.

Just less than a decade later, 1946 was no doubt another exciting year when a 15 by 10-foot addition was added to the library. 1955 saw even more changes when the barn, which I assume had seen better days, was torn down to make way for a brand new small garage.

When we move into the 1960s, a seismic shift happened – the Huron County Library was born! After the province passed a revised library law winding down the paid-membership association libraries, many counties – including Huron – transitioned to county-run libraries. The Huron County Library Association had been operating as a voluntary partnership of locally-run libraries, each with its own board of directors since 1941. But in 1967, this all changed. The new County Library would be a unified body run by one board. Membership fees would be discontinued. Freedom for all! This was the start of the Huron County Library as we know it today. Kirkton and most other Huron municipalities voted to support a county library, with the exceptions being Hay, Hullett, East Wawanosh, Morris, and the Town of Goderich (although Goderich almost immediately reconsidered its vote). And so, along with many other locations, Kirkton became one of Huron County Library’s branches.

In 1972, a new Community Centre was being proposed, and Usborne Council offered the Kirkton library building to the Kirkton-Woodham Community Centre Board for $7,500 on the condition that a library be included in the new building. Sure enough, in 1973, the library was moved from its home of at least 50 years to a new room in the Kirkton-Woodham Community Centre, where it remains to this day.

Now before we leave Kirkton, I’d like to mention one last thing – remember back in 1915 when the library was open for 78 hours a week, more than any branch is open today? Well, in the 1970s, they were down to 4 hours a week – that’s a 94.8 per cent decrease! Although the library’s back up to 20 hours a week, it’s hard to imagine that Kirkton will ever see such a monumental number of weekly hours ever again.