Now it’s time to move on to the South Team’s third and final branch, Hensall. The first library in Hensall was a Mechanics’ Institute established in 1890 under the care of J.C. Stoneman’s jewellery store on the south side of King street. Jeweller’s would make good librarians, right?
Things certainly were different back then. One difference was that only the librarian had access to the shelves. Another was that anyone accepting the position of librarian was also required to supply the rooms with lighting and heat. I’m probably way off, but I’m picturing some sort of bicycle setup that when pedalled, powered up lights and turned the heat on.
In 1897 or 1898, the Hensall Public Library organization was born and took over the assets of the Mechanics’ Institute. Mr. Stoneman continued on as Hensall’s librarian and landlord.
Just a few years later, on August 11th 1900, a disastrous fire destroyed several stores on the south side of King street, including Stoneman’s jewellery store. The books were lost along with all of the early town records. Apparently Mr. Stoneman, who was also the village clerk at the time, had all the town records stored at his store for safe keeping. Fortunately, thanks to the insurance money that was paid out, the buildings were rebuilt and the library was operational the very next year on the same premises with the same librarian.
In 1907, the library stopped charging subscription fees to all taxpayers. Hensall was an innovator! Most other libraries were still taking subscription fees and would continue to charge for many years after, some all the way until 1967 when libraries were reorganized into a county system.
In 1909, the library was moved across the street to another local jeweller’s store, that of Fred C. McDonell, who succeeded Mr. Stoneman as librarian. Apparently the jewellers of Hensall had an eye for library’s back in the day.
Unfortunately, just four years later, in August 1913, tragedy struck once more when this location, along with almost the entire business block on the north side of King street, was destroyed by another fire. The library was bookless, homeless, and in a critical financial situation as they had to borrow $50.00 from a member to pay Mr. McDonell up to date. Before long, the County, provincial government, and village grants, plus insurance benefits, gave the library a working capital of $1,210.72,
Two fires just 13 years apart. The Hensall library sure didn’t have it easy in those early days.
After this second fire, the library temporarily rented quarters in D.W. Foss’s baker’s shop where his daughter Florence served as librarian. As luck would have it, a brand new Town Hall was completed in 1914 with provisions for a library and Reading Room, and by October 1915, the entire library was moved in. At the same time, in 1915, the library decided to adopt the Dewey Decimal system. What a great day that must have been!
Since that fire in 1913, the Hensall Library has had much better luck, as it still remains in the Town Hall to this day. It has had one move within the building since 1913. In 1975, the lower tier of the Town Hall was completely renovated, and as a result of these renovations, the library was relocated to the east side of the building. This new spot enlarged the branch to a size of 15×44 feet.
Back in the late 19th and early 20th century, libraries faced the much more common occurrence of devastating fires, and sometimes, things went wrong. Things certainly went wrong for Hensall library with those two fires. But ever since those difficult, early times, the library has remained a stalwart pillar in the community.