b. 1880 d. 1970
Married - never
Emma Belle Roos, born in 1880, was a daughter of hardware clerk Henry Roos. During her lifetime she used her two names, Emma Belle, to distinguish herself from her cousin Emma Roos who worked for Thomas Hilliard at Dominion Life. In the late 1890s a Mechanics Library was housed in the Town Hall and Emma Belle was hired to look after it. About 1903, a movement was made toward building a new free library and with a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. A new facility was constructed on the triangle at Albert and Water (Dorset) Sts and opened in 1904. Emma Belle Roos was appointed the first librarian in the new building. For the next 45 years she continued in this capacity adding other facilities such as a children section, when needed. She retired on Oct 21, 1949. For most of her life she resided in the Willow St family home, and when her parents died Emma Belle continued living there with sisters Bernice and Hilda.
Sources:
1. Waterloo Public Library, Vertical File, Waterloo Library
2. Marg Rowell et al, Welcome to Waterloo
3. Waterloo, Mt Hope Cemetery Records
4. Waterloo Chronicle, October 21, 1949
Emma Belle Roos Biography
Description
- Creator
- Little, Ellis, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Item Type
- Articles
- Description
- This is a handwritten biography of Emma Belle Roos from the Ellis Little Papers. This biography has been transcribed exactly as written. Ellis Little was a local historian, who was the principal of Elizabeth Ziegler Public School.On his retirement, he invested much of his time in researching and writing about Waterloo's history. The Ellis Little Papers consist of extensive notes, papers and historical works.
- Notes
- Please scroll to the bottom of the page to see the transcribed text. To see the original document, please visit the Ellis Little Local History Room at the Main Branch of the Waterloo Public Library
- Date Of Event
- 1880-1970
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Roos, Emma Belle ; Roos, Henry ; Hilliard, Thomas
- Local identifier
- ELP 51.175
- Collection
- Ellis Little Papers: Men and Women of Our Past
- Language of Item
- English
- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Location of Original
- Ellis Little Papers
- Contact
- Waterloo Public LibraryEmail:askus@wpl.ca
Website:
Agency street/mail address:35 Albert Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 5E2
- Full Text
