Palmerston Public Library
In the waning days of the late 1800's Palmerston as a community had reached an impasse. The town had reached its zenith of prosperity and was on the verge of a social and economic decline, something needed to stabilize the community and solidify its culture as a small town in Southern Ontario. By 1885 the majority of prosperous original town founders had either left town or moved on to different ventures. The Great Western Railway was no longer driving the iron horse, its competitor the Grand Trunk had taken over the lines which provided the key connection to the rest of the world. The importance of a hub in Southern Ontario declined as routes, equipment and resources allowed goods to be moved faster and easier to major centres. Palmerston was becoming just another way point in the far reaches of the financially stronger cities.
No longer was there a buzz about Palmerston growing to the size and prestige of cities like Hamilton. Large industrial employers were slowly shutting down and moving to larger centres where it was cheaper and more profitable to operate. The local government tried desperately to bring in new businesses but the lure of better wages from the railway made finding labour virtually impossible. Those that needed jobs were forced to migrate away to the cities in search of employment. Between 1891 and 1911 Palmerston experienced a steady decline in its population to the point of only 1,600 people showing in the census, which would be the smallest population the community had seen since before incorporation in 1875. Within the town the once rapid and expansive building had trickled to a virtual halt. The buildings and infrastructure created in the mid-1870's was starting to show its age and needed upgrades and improvements. The municipal government was no longer quick to infuse cash into any new venture and the community was beginning to show its wear. Sometime around 1890 to 1895 Palmerston began developing a reputation as a place to avoid, the sewage and water systems were essentially non-existent. Typhoid was an ongoing problem because of this. The street lights were never lit due to an ongoing battle between the town council and the private company paid to maintain them. The fire department lacked sufficient equipment after a disastrous mishandling of the purchase of a new fire engine and hoses from Waterous Engine Works. Lost buildings from fire made two of the largest non-railway employers pack up and move out of Palmerston at the time. |
It was time for a change, a fresh start, the old stagnant approach to managing and growing the community just weren't working anymore. Something had to be done.
One of the interesting things about local politics at the time, was that the town council was elected every December, meaning every year there was the possibility of a new Mayor and council members. Whether they could get anything done in that short span of time is hard to say. Between 1875 and 1910 Palmerston had no less than 16 different Mayors; two of which were a part of the original town founders and they account for 12 of those 35 years. No other Mayor served longer than two consecutive terms.
The "Old Guard" as they were referred to, were led by Thomas Burns (age 42) and Robert Shields (age 61), who had both been elected Mayor multiple times between 1896 and 1902. They were seen as the reason Palmerston was experiencing such a decline into disparity. Whether that's true or whether it was a broader situation they couldn't control we'll never know. They were challenged by a group that became known as the "Youngsters", a group of primarily businessmen averaging an age of 36 years. These hopefuls were led by John Skelton (aged 32) and George Donaldson (aged 42).
The "Youngsters" demanded immediate improvements to the town infrastructure, better resources and incentives for new businesses and the most controversial thing of all, a new Free Library. Today, many of us take the library for granted, it's something that has "always been there and always will be". But at the time the concept of a library was extremely forward looking and progressive. Up to this point Palmerston only had a small Mechanics Institute library, while available to all it was primarily focused on the improvement of education for working men. A "Free Library" would be for everyone. To put a new library in to modern perspective, think of it as giving every person within the community and surrounding area the internet, a laptop, iPad, higher education, an entertainment centre and cultural hub...all for free. It truly was access to the entire world of knowledge and information, access that was never available before.
This was a huge opportunity for the community in many regards, however a large number of vocal people disagreed. The disagreement, and what would lead to one of the most contentious elections ever to be seen in Palmerston, was who would pay for the new library. Beginning in 1883 Andrew Carnegie a wealthy Scotsman in the United States started using his wealth to provide grants to communities around the world to build their own library. The Youngsters, many of whom were also on the newly formed Palmerston Library committee, wanted to apply for a Carnegie grant.
The Old Guard saw Carnegie's grants as blood money, they viewed Carnegie as anti-union because of the Homestead Strike. The strike took place in 1892 in Homestead, Pennsylvania, the location of Carnegie's largest steel factory. Here, after record profits for the company the unionized employees demanded an increase in pay. When denied the workers left and were subsequently locked out. After over 100 days of the lock out Carnegie's business partner (Henry Clay Frick) called in the infamous Pinkerton Strike Breakers. The Pinkerton agents naturally made things worse, in the ensuing confrontation 7 strikers and 3 agents were killed. Frick was even wounded in an assassination attempt.
In a community where the largest employer was made up of unionized workers, it wasn't surprising that some may be negative towards the Carnegie money. Most likely as well the two local newspapers, The Spectator (Liberal/Pro-Union) and the Reporter (Conservative) had a hay-day with the differing opinions. The contention between the two groups reached a point of demonstrations in the streets.
George Donaldson said in his 1942 History of Palmerston: "...Some jokers before election day scattered around town, cards which read 'The steamer "Youngster" will start out 1st of January 1903 for the City of Destruction, and arrive at its destination at 6 p.m. unless wrecked before on Carnegie Rocks. Manned by J.M. Skelton, Captain; W. M Parish, First Mate; J. Schaefer, Second Mate; G.Y. Donaldson, Purser; D. Greenlaw, Surgeon; A.H. Baird, cook; Shep Kearns, Stoker; H. Hyndman and J. M. Aull proprietors." Despite the propaganda and demonstrations the union dominated voters of Palmerston proved what became a reoccurring theme in elections, and voted for what they knew was best for the community and not the union. The "Youngsters" won by a landslide.
With the election win the new Town Council and Library Board leapt into immediate action. On March 5th 1903 Major Jamieson received a letter from Carnegie confirming the town would be given $10,000 to build their new library. Town Council provided an additional $2,500 after working out an agreement with the Library Board to add to the building a council chamber, local legal courts, opera hall and rooms for young men's organizations. The Carnegie Foundation was not aware of this change in the original proposal.
Not being sore losers, at the time of receiving the grant a group of the Old Guards proceeded to file an injunction against the Library Board and Town Council to cause a delay in starting the construction. While it worked for a few months the Library board was able to move forward.
By August of 1903 a proposal for the Library design was received and accepted from Architect Frye Colwill of Guelph. Colwill was also the designer of the original Guelph Free Library, which after construction was referred to as "pretentious" by the Carnegie Foundation. With the design in place, Major Wooldrige and Company were hired as the contractors and began building in earnest.
The eventual costs broke down as follows:
$675 for two lots
$7,144 to construct the building
$1,677 for the 2002 books in the Mechanics Institute collection
The Library included a reading room and a checkers room which cost $0.15 a month for membership. The first librarian was Mrs. Addie Kopp who was paid $150 per year and library cards were $0.05 each.
As construction came to an end it was debated as to what would be put above the entry way. The initial proposal was have the name Carnegie carved in stone, however the Old Guard reacted again and the compromise of MCMIII (1903) was reached.
The following year Town Council put forth an additional $1,500 to complete the theatre and seating on the second floor. Initially the funding was requested from the Carnegie Foundation for an "expansion"; however the Foundation had discovered the Library was being used for many other purposes other than being a library. With that in mind the Foundation denied the request for additional funding and from that point on any and all applications to the Carnegie Foundation would have to include detailed plans for what their money was being used for.
With the completion of the library the town continued its forward progression and the library continued to evolve. By 1905 a Water and Sewage System was established (For decades to come Palmerston was considered the model for small communities on how to do water treatment properly); 1906 a Town owned electrical plant and street lighting system was established. For the library; 1907 saw Richard Johnson (Postmaster) renting space in the library for the post office until the new building was erected in 1915. Between 1915 - 1925 the School Board used the former post office space for a Kindergarten classroom. 1910 and 1919 Memorials to the fallen soldiers of Palmerston were erected in the library and on its grounds.
Since those turbulent first few years of the library it has become a centre piece in the community. Over the decades it has undergone numerous changes and updates and sits today as something we can all be proud of. Its history is not only a centre of culture and education, but as a memorial to the hard work and dedication of the people within the community and also to those who sacrificed abroad. The very spot it sits holds the utmost importance as well, it is the very spot that Thomas McDowell, the first settler and founding father of the community, built his first log shanty and cleared the land with the hope of a better future for his family.
Today, I'm sure Mr. McDowell would be awestruck by what was once a patch of overgrown trees in 1855, has become in 2016.
"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert." - Andrew Carnegie
One of the interesting things about local politics at the time, was that the town council was elected every December, meaning every year there was the possibility of a new Mayor and council members. Whether they could get anything done in that short span of time is hard to say. Between 1875 and 1910 Palmerston had no less than 16 different Mayors; two of which were a part of the original town founders and they account for 12 of those 35 years. No other Mayor served longer than two consecutive terms.
The "Old Guard" as they were referred to, were led by Thomas Burns (age 42) and Robert Shields (age 61), who had both been elected Mayor multiple times between 1896 and 1902. They were seen as the reason Palmerston was experiencing such a decline into disparity. Whether that's true or whether it was a broader situation they couldn't control we'll never know. They were challenged by a group that became known as the "Youngsters", a group of primarily businessmen averaging an age of 36 years. These hopefuls were led by John Skelton (aged 32) and George Donaldson (aged 42).
The "Youngsters" demanded immediate improvements to the town infrastructure, better resources and incentives for new businesses and the most controversial thing of all, a new Free Library. Today, many of us take the library for granted, it's something that has "always been there and always will be". But at the time the concept of a library was extremely forward looking and progressive. Up to this point Palmerston only had a small Mechanics Institute library, while available to all it was primarily focused on the improvement of education for working men. A "Free Library" would be for everyone. To put a new library in to modern perspective, think of it as giving every person within the community and surrounding area the internet, a laptop, iPad, higher education, an entertainment centre and cultural hub...all for free. It truly was access to the entire world of knowledge and information, access that was never available before.
This was a huge opportunity for the community in many regards, however a large number of vocal people disagreed. The disagreement, and what would lead to one of the most contentious elections ever to be seen in Palmerston, was who would pay for the new library. Beginning in 1883 Andrew Carnegie a wealthy Scotsman in the United States started using his wealth to provide grants to communities around the world to build their own library. The Youngsters, many of whom were also on the newly formed Palmerston Library committee, wanted to apply for a Carnegie grant.
The Old Guard saw Carnegie's grants as blood money, they viewed Carnegie as anti-union because of the Homestead Strike. The strike took place in 1892 in Homestead, Pennsylvania, the location of Carnegie's largest steel factory. Here, after record profits for the company the unionized employees demanded an increase in pay. When denied the workers left and were subsequently locked out. After over 100 days of the lock out Carnegie's business partner (Henry Clay Frick) called in the infamous Pinkerton Strike Breakers. The Pinkerton agents naturally made things worse, in the ensuing confrontation 7 strikers and 3 agents were killed. Frick was even wounded in an assassination attempt.
In a community where the largest employer was made up of unionized workers, it wasn't surprising that some may be negative towards the Carnegie money. Most likely as well the two local newspapers, The Spectator (Liberal/Pro-Union) and the Reporter (Conservative) had a hay-day with the differing opinions. The contention between the two groups reached a point of demonstrations in the streets.
George Donaldson said in his 1942 History of Palmerston: "...Some jokers before election day scattered around town, cards which read 'The steamer "Youngster" will start out 1st of January 1903 for the City of Destruction, and arrive at its destination at 6 p.m. unless wrecked before on Carnegie Rocks. Manned by J.M. Skelton, Captain; W. M Parish, First Mate; J. Schaefer, Second Mate; G.Y. Donaldson, Purser; D. Greenlaw, Surgeon; A.H. Baird, cook; Shep Kearns, Stoker; H. Hyndman and J. M. Aull proprietors." Despite the propaganda and demonstrations the union dominated voters of Palmerston proved what became a reoccurring theme in elections, and voted for what they knew was best for the community and not the union. The "Youngsters" won by a landslide.
With the election win the new Town Council and Library Board leapt into immediate action. On March 5th 1903 Major Jamieson received a letter from Carnegie confirming the town would be given $10,000 to build their new library. Town Council provided an additional $2,500 after working out an agreement with the Library Board to add to the building a council chamber, local legal courts, opera hall and rooms for young men's organizations. The Carnegie Foundation was not aware of this change in the original proposal.
Not being sore losers, at the time of receiving the grant a group of the Old Guards proceeded to file an injunction against the Library Board and Town Council to cause a delay in starting the construction. While it worked for a few months the Library board was able to move forward.
By August of 1903 a proposal for the Library design was received and accepted from Architect Frye Colwill of Guelph. Colwill was also the designer of the original Guelph Free Library, which after construction was referred to as "pretentious" by the Carnegie Foundation. With the design in place, Major Wooldrige and Company were hired as the contractors and began building in earnest.
The eventual costs broke down as follows:
$675 for two lots
$7,144 to construct the building
$1,677 for the 2002 books in the Mechanics Institute collection
The Library included a reading room and a checkers room which cost $0.15 a month for membership. The first librarian was Mrs. Addie Kopp who was paid $150 per year and library cards were $0.05 each.
As construction came to an end it was debated as to what would be put above the entry way. The initial proposal was have the name Carnegie carved in stone, however the Old Guard reacted again and the compromise of MCMIII (1903) was reached.
The following year Town Council put forth an additional $1,500 to complete the theatre and seating on the second floor. Initially the funding was requested from the Carnegie Foundation for an "expansion"; however the Foundation had discovered the Library was being used for many other purposes other than being a library. With that in mind the Foundation denied the request for additional funding and from that point on any and all applications to the Carnegie Foundation would have to include detailed plans for what their money was being used for.
With the completion of the library the town continued its forward progression and the library continued to evolve. By 1905 a Water and Sewage System was established (For decades to come Palmerston was considered the model for small communities on how to do water treatment properly); 1906 a Town owned electrical plant and street lighting system was established. For the library; 1907 saw Richard Johnson (Postmaster) renting space in the library for the post office until the new building was erected in 1915. Between 1915 - 1925 the School Board used the former post office space for a Kindergarten classroom. 1910 and 1919 Memorials to the fallen soldiers of Palmerston were erected in the library and on its grounds.
Since those turbulent first few years of the library it has become a centre piece in the community. Over the decades it has undergone numerous changes and updates and sits today as something we can all be proud of. Its history is not only a centre of culture and education, but as a memorial to the hard work and dedication of the people within the community and also to those who sacrificed abroad. The very spot it sits holds the utmost importance as well, it is the very spot that Thomas McDowell, the first settler and founding father of the community, built his first log shanty and cleared the land with the hope of a better future for his family.
Today, I'm sure Mr. McDowell would be awestruck by what was once a patch of overgrown trees in 1855, has become in 2016.
"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert." - Andrew Carnegie