Last week, we talked about the first Carnegie Library in Canada, which was built in Chatham in 1902 and opened its doors on Sept. 14, 1903.
I lamented that we lost this very historic building (in 1967) and replaced it with a very functional, spacious – and boring – building.
One of the last homages to this Carnegie Library was a celebration organized by longtime librarian (and future “Ghost Girl”) Sheila Gibbs to celebrate the anniversary of the laying of its cornerstone in September 2002.
At this celebration, there were period cars, Doug Sulman played his great-grandfather (Mayor George Sulman), Dr. Charteris played his great-grandfather (library board member Dr. Charles Charteris) and as Kent Historical Society president, I played my historical counterpart, Dr. TK Holmes.
But one Carnegie Library still stands proudly in Chatham Kent on Dresden’s main street.
It was built in 1913 with an $8,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie given to the community in 1906. In the 1980s, it designated a historic site under the Ontario Heritage Act. It was totally refurbished in 2000 and remains a vital part of Dresden’s downtown.
It’s a tribute to Dresden’s pre-amalgamation town fathers who realized the value of this building through the years.
Andrew Carnegie was a wonderful supporter of arts, heritage and culture in North America and throughout the world.
During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away around $350 million (about $5.5 billion today) to charities, foundations and universities.
Carnegie believed wealthy people were morally obligated to give money back to society’s less fortunate. It’s no wonder many believed he was probably the most influential philanthropist in American history.
It is estimated he gave financial support to 2,509 free public libraries around the world between 1833 and 1929.
He made education and world peace the prime purpose of his life and money.
All the more reason why Chatham’s town fathers in 1967 (Centennial Year, for God’s sake) should have saved our impressive, architecturally significant and historically meaningful Carnegie Library and built a new boring, functional, box-like structure somewhere else!