The Jubilee Gem of 1899
L
ooking back a century to the days when farming
was commonplace in Westmount, it seems quite
remarkable that the Westmount Public Library
could have been conceived and built in such
enduring fashion in only two years.
For not only was it to be the first municipal
library in Quebec, but also it was to be one of the
few separate library buildings in Canada at the time,
most libraries sharing space in other institutions.
What the city fathers, despite their pioneering
vision, would not have foreseen was just how many
parallels would emerge some 95 years later when
new generations took up the task of renewing the
library to "pass on the light".
There was a familiar ring in 1995 to a letter
written in July 1898 by Mayor Fred W Evans to
McGill librarian Charles Gould explaining problems
with the original architectural design:
"I am very much afraid that the plans as they
will go through will not satisfy your ideas of what a
library should be," he wrote, "but we have to cut
our coat according to our cloth, and it is the best
we can do."
With few library models in Canada, it was to
New England that the local municipality turned for
inspiration once it decided to build a public library
to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's
reign in 1897.
That the Diamond Jubilee monument should
take the form of a library reflects the heritage and
character of the citizens. Mainly of English and
Scottish roots, they held education and reading in
the highest esteem. (In the restoration of 1995,
symbols of French heritage and culture were to be
incorporated to reflect the changing population.)
Enjoying Town status, Westmount was mush-
rooming into a favourite residential suburb of
Montreal. The population grew from 4,885 in 1896