W. Bayne Library

In 1887, James H. Bayne was president of the newly organized Library and Musical Society, which began with a small collection of books in a building at the southwest corner of Dundas and Hagerty Streets that also housed the weekly newspaper, the Newbury Journal. In 1900, the village and surrounding county were canvassed to see whether enough interest existed to organize a Public Library, which required at least one hundred members, including fifty who were 21 years of age or over, in order to apply for incorporation and receive government support through an annual dollar-for-dollar grant matching library board expenditures. The committee set a first-year fee of 50 cents. The books were later moved to the former shop of Robert Adair, where Charles Tucker sold farm implements and also served as librarian, with books shelved on the walls among plows and farming apparatus and available only on Saturday nights when most people came to town. In 1930, Mrs. William Bayne had the Adair house and shop demolished and replaced with a red brick building as a memorial to William Bayne, a longtime village merchant, and their daughter Margaret, providing a home for the books and a meeting place for the Women's Institute. The W. Bayne Library was dedicated by Rev. Chas. D. Farquharson, a former pastor of Knox United Church. Although the Institute was to maintain the property, it was deeded to the Village and became the responsibility of the Council. During the 1920's, the Doctor Oven estate made a donation to help purchase books, and Middlesex County appointed a Library Association known as the Middlesex County Library Co-operative. The Ontario Department of Education took over library administration in 1963, and in 1964 a new furnace, tile floors, and shelving were installed. Since its conception, many volunteers helped maintain the library, including people named Armstrong, Robinson, Bayne, Fennel, Cousins, Stalker, Parnell, Ervin, and Tucker.

Ontario · Canada