Lethbridge Public Library / Southern Alberta Art Gallery

Employees of the Alberta Railway & Coal Company founded the Miners Library, the earliest library in Lethbridge. In 1918 the local YMCA provided the first home for the Lethbridge Public Library. As the city grew, demand for expanded library service led the City of Lethbridge, with help from its first librarian, Miss Hazel Bletcher, to secure a $25,000 grant from The Carnegie Foundation Trust, endowed by United States entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie to fund libraries and promote education worldwide. Designed by Whiddington and Fry, the brick and stone building with a symmetrical facade and classically inspired appearance opened in 1922. After the library's success created a need for more collection space and a children's library, an eastern addition opened on November 4, 1951, becoming the adult section while the children's library occupied the upper floor of the Carnegie building. The library later outgrew the facility, and a new library on Stafford Drive and 5th Avenue South opened in 1974. The City of Lethbridge then agreed to lease this building to the newly formed Southern Alberta Art Gallery, the first publicly operated, professionally staffed, full time contemporary art gallery in southern Alberta. Allan MacKay was hired in 1975 as the first director-curator, and the gallery opened to the public in 1976. The Southern Alberta Art Gallery has since grown into one of Canada's leading contemporary art galleries.

Alberta · Canada