Feature Article December 11, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeSydenhams Libraryis 100!
One
hundred years ago a group of residents, some of them teachers at
Sydenham High School, opened a library in Sydenham.
On Tuesday, the Sydenham Branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public
Library celebrated its 100th birthday with a puppet show in
the afternoon and a Gala in the evening, featuring a reading by local
poet Carolyn Smart, and several songs by the Frontenac Womens
Choir. Marcel Giroux, Chair of the Library Board, noted the long and
valuable association between the library and Sydenham High. He also
pointed out that the formation of the Frontenac County library system
in the late 60's owed much to the supporters of Sydenham Library,
most particularly Mrs. Mary Lloyd-Jones.
Until that time, Sydenham library had operated independently, with its
own board. It was funded by subscriptions, street dances, raffles,
bingos and small township grants. Some years, it could afford very few
books, though in the 40s, a gift from the Red Cross enabled the
board to buy a house that accommodated both the bookroom and an
apartment. Today, Sydenham is the most active branch library outside
Kingston.
Among the other guests at the celebration Gala were MP Larry
McCormick, and Donna Morrin and her mother Dorothy Berger. Morrin,
presently the Warden of Kingston Pennitentiary, has the distinction of
being the only baby ever born in the Sydenham Library.
