THE SAULT STAR — WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1996 
Blind River Public Library celebrates its 70th birthday
By MIKE FREEMAN
Special to the Star

BLIND RIVER — It started out with a room a the Blind River Town Hall, some shelves and a couple of hundred books.

But 70 years later, the Blind River Public Library has almost 15,000 tides and good reason to celebrate its birthday, which coincided with the annual Winter Carnival.

Cake and coffee was served up to many visitors by "Friends of the Blind River Public Library."

Librarian Rhea Marcellus said the first board was established in February of 1926, with Rev. R. Haines elected as the chairman.
"The town council then couldn't give the board any grants for a building," Marcellus stated. "But they did give them a room and some shelves for the books."

Even then, the library had "user fees," to maintain it.

Many of the books at that time came from social events where people were asked to bring along any extra books they may have had.

Marcellus wasn't sure of the exact time, but in the 1930's or 1940's; a boost to the library system occurred when a building was acquired.

Right across the street from where the library now stands was a school with an annexed building.

The board of education donated the annex for the purpose of giving the library a new home. The annex was moved across the street and to this day, it stands as the front section of the library.

In 1921 the population of Blind River was 1,843, but by 1931, it had risen to 2,805 and the library became an integral part of the town.

The first library board was established when Blind River was experiencing a population boom and there was just a small book section at the French school.

"The library association was concerned because there wasn't any books for adults," Marcellus stated.

She explained that when the new building was established many books were obtained from the "travelling library," which was part of the Ministry of Education, the group responsible for libraries in that era.

The travelling library would come into town with new books, to be left for a period of time, while picking up ones that had been left on the previous visit.

It was a good thing the new building came along when it did, as Marcellus explained.

"The town hall burned down in the 1950's," she recalled. "So it was fortunate the library was moved, because they lost all the town records."

The one-room library lasted until 1978, when the community banded together and raised funds to add to the building, which is how it stands today.