Friday, October 25, 2019 7 Brooklin Town Crier A library has long been a place that helps put together a reader with a book, or where personal relationships are made. It's been a place to learn, share knowledge and make connections. As far back as 1851, the village of Brooklin had a circulating library. Jeremiah Frost, a Clerk for the Township of Whitby, was appointed the first librarian in 1859. Each succeeding librarian was a Clerk with the Township until 1897 when members of the library formed a committee and officially opened on the second floor at 58 Baldwin Street. Members paid an annual fee to use the library's services. Concerts, exhibits and a host of interesting activities were offered. In 1921, the library committee asked the Township for much needed space and was given an area in the basement of Township Hall at 45 Cassels Road East. The Brooklin Women's Institute then took it over, buying books and appointing librarians, with the fuel and heating paid for by the Township. However, again the library outgrew its location. With the community's urging, requests for a designated building were never realized. Then, in 1959, a bequest from the estate of Miss Edna Burton made up a large portion of the needed funding. Land was purchased through the Township and Brooklin resident Lylia McBrien designed the building to be erected at 8 Vipond Road. The new library was officially opened by John Robarts, Minister of Education, on February 8, 1961. That year, the Township made the library a tax-supported institution and the Brooklin Public Library was born. When the Village of Brooklin amalgamated with the Town of Whitby in 1968, the Brooklin Library officially became a branch of the Whitby Public Library and served the community for 49 years. But with the growing population, a new facility was warranted. In 2010, on the same site, the library was rebuilt. The Whitby Public Library's Brooklin Branch continues to serve its community and is thriving as it continues to reinvent itself. More than just books and computers, it is a place where individuals gather to explore, interact, and imagine. It is the people's library, a "doorway to discovery." Brooklin Heritage Society Our Library's History By Sandra Mammone, Branch Supervisor, Whitby Public Library