Carnegie Public Library
108 Main Street South, Seaforth, Ontario
( Year built: 1912-13 )
The design of Seaforth’s Carnegie Public Library has elements in common with other Carnegie libraries: a classical style, which includ-ed an exposed basement, a centrally located main entrance, a classically columned portico, and a symmetrical arrangement of windows. The style is primarily based on Beaux-Artes ideas of symmetry and design used for civic buildings like town halls, post offices and banks in Ontario from the 1880s. Although the exterior designs of Carnegie libraries were not dictated by condition of the grant, most architects followed the classical style.
Between 1901 and 1923, a total of 125 Carnegie libraries were built in Canada, 111 of them in Ontario. On April 1912, Seaforth received promise of a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Seaforth Library was built with $10,000 of grant money the town had received from the Carnegie Foundation. James Bertram, who oversaw the Andrew Carnegie Foundation grants program, had a personal tie to Seaforth; his wife, Janet Ewing, was a native of Seaforth. (Bertram and his wife are buried in the Maitlandbank Cemetery.)
John Finlayson was hired as the architect-builder. He waived his fee so the town was able to purchase the lot at the corner of Main and George Streets. Harry (or Henry) Edge, who lived in what is now the Lavoie House, began work on the building in 1912.
Libraries in Ontario evolved, in the 1850s, from subscription or Mechanics’ Institute libraries. Seaforth Mechanics’ 
Institute and Library Association was incorporated in 1869, having moved to Seaforth from Harpurhey. It had a membership of 200. From 1878 on, the Mechanics’ Institute provided books and a reading room, with billiards and games at the back of the reading room. Few small town libraries had permanent facilities at this time. Seaforth’s Mechanics Institute was located above Thomas Kidd’s south store at the corner of Main and Market Streets.
Above Photo: The library once had a tennis court on the side lawn. When this photo was taken in 1918, the Main Street was bricked. After the Free Libraries Act was passed in 1882, the name was changed from the Mechanics’ Institute Library to the Seaforth Public Library. In 1894, the library moved to a room on the second floor of the newly completed Town Hall.
William F. Luxton, who was for a short time between 1869-70 the publisher of the Seaforth Expositor, was the librarian for the Mechanics’ Institute and Library Association. William Moore followed Luxton as librarian and held office for many years. The next librarian, John Thompson, died at age 30 of typhoid. On September 17, 1907, his sister, Greta Thompson, who had assisted him, took his place. She continued in the job for the next 50 years.
In 1967, the Seaforth Public Library joined the Huron County Library which serves all municipalities in Huron County from 11 main branch libraries. Seaforth Public Library is a major reference centre popular with local history and genealogy researchers.
Renovations were made to the building in 1984, and again in 1995, modernizing it and adding wheelchair accessibility. Today, the library has a Friday morning story hour for children, a noon and an evening book club, free internet access and training, and a cyber-camp for kids provided through the Community Access Program.
Long before the library was built on this lot, James R. Ross had his Dominion Hotel here in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Thomas Sephens owned the entire lot in 1870 and retained ownership of part of the lot until 1876. Thomas Sharp had a livery on part of the lot in 1869, but in January 1870, The Huron Expositor reported that Ross had opened a new livery stable in connection with the hotel. In 1871, he expanded business to include a new line of stages. Later that year in October, Ross moved his hotel and stage business further south on Main Street east, near the station, property formerly occupied by Matthew Robertson’s cabinetmaking business. Tax assessment records show that Ross was still the hotel keeper at the Dominon Hotel from 1871-74 and became the owner of the property in 1874.
Franz A. Meyer owned a blacksmith shop on the south part of the lot and John Murray was the tenant blacksmith here in the 1860s. John Smith and William Grassie, both wagonmakers, worked here in 1867 and 1868 respectively.
By 1875, Robert Hays was the property owner and hotelkeeper. But by 1877, Thomas Hays was the owner and John W. Carroll the hotelkeeper. Carroll worked in this capacity until 1887, becoming the owner of the hotel in 1884.
Advertisements Above Left: From The Huron Expositor March 25, 1870, and; Above Right: Appeared in the January 24, 1873 issue.
Joseph Bell assumed ownership of the hotel and became the hotelkeeper in 1888. Henry Abell was employed as hosteler and Levi Strong as bartender. Bell sold the hotel to James Dick in 1892. There were four different hotelkeepers in the 1890s, but James Dick was here the longest, from 1892 to 1897. One very cold February night in 1899, the hotel was destroyed by fire. Jacob Kling was the hotel’s manager at the time.
On the southwest corner of the lot, Alex M. Campbell had his implement shop and office from 1876 to 1899. After the fire, this part of the lot became hotel property. James Dick continued to own the property until 1909 and is listed as a tenant, but he did not rebuild the hotel. Frank Allen, a horsebuyer from Goderich, later owned the lot. He sold the property in April 1912 to the Library Board. That year A.P. Joynt bought the barn and other buildings on the lot and had them removed.
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