Whitby Public Library

In 1911, the Town of Whitby appointed a board for the establishment of a public library and applied for a building grant from industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The Library’s application was successful, and in 1913, Whitby’s Carnegie library was built at the corner of Dundas and Byron Streets. This building housed 5,000 books and contained separate reading areas for men, women, and children.

In 1958, the Township of Whitby opened a public library in Brooklin. The Brooklin Public Library served the rural areas of the Township, including the communities of Myrtle, Myrtle Station, and Ashburn. By 1966, the Town and Township of Whitby amalgamated, and the Brooklin library became a branch of the Whitby Public Library.

In 1973, the Library moved its main branch to the lower floor of the Whitby municipal building on Dundas Street. Five years later, Whitby’s new town hall was built on Rossland Road East, and the library took over sole occupancy of the former municipal building.

By the 1980s, the Town desired to construct a new civic recreation center which would include space for the central library branch. This plan did not come to fruition. Instead, in 1989 the library expanded by opening its Rossland branch in a shopping plaza on Rossland Road East (Unit 701).

In 2002, construction finally began for the new Whitby Public Library central branch, which was to be located on the same site in Whitby’s downtown core. In 2005, the branch opened at 405 Dundas Street West. Since then, the new branch has received design awards from the Ontario Library Association and the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario. Many citizens enjoy the services at this location.

In 2010, the Brooklin branch reopened in the newly constructed Brooklin Community Centre & Library, located at 8 Vipond Road. It also received a design award from the Ontario Library Association.

Archives at Whitby Public Library

The Whitby Archives was established in 1968 by the Whitby Historical Society. It consisted of a small collection of documents and photographs that were stored in a closet in Whitby's Centennial Building, formerly the Ontario County Courthouse. Although no longer affiliated with the Whitby Historical Society, over the years the Archives has grown to include thousands of photographs, 1,000 metres of textual records, and over 4,000 family histories, maps, plans, films, and musical recordings. In 2005, the Archives moved to the Whitby Public Library’s new building at 405 Dundas St. W and became part of the WPL family.