HPL's Catalogue will undergo maintenance on Wednesday, May 13 from 12:30am to 4:30 am. There may be intermittent downtime during this maintenance window. Thank you for your patience.
Catalogue Maintenance
Published:
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 - 2:00pm
Greensville Branch Accessible Washroom Out of Order
The accessible washroom at Greensville Branch is not working. We aim to get it fixed quickly.
Published:
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 - 10:15am
All Branches Closed - Sunday, May 17
All HPL Branches are closed on Sunday, May 17. Bookmobile is off the road. Extended Access service is not available.
Regular service hours resume on Tuesday, May 19. Visit hpl.ca for our Virtual Branch.
Published:
Monday, May 11, 2026 - 10:15am
All Branches Closed - Victoria Day, Monday, May 18
All HPL Branches are closed on Monday, May 18. Bookmobile is off the road. Extended Access and Study Hall services are not available. Regular service hours resume on Tuesday, May 19.
Published:
Monday, May 11, 2026 - 10:15am
Bookmobile Service Modification
Due to Driver availability, Bookmobile has the following schedule modifications for the month of May. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Tuesday, May 12:
- Greencedar - Cancelled
- Mountview - Cancelled
Wednesday, May 13:
- Swansea - Cancelled
- Helen Detwiler - Cancelled
- Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum - Cancelled
Thursday, May 14:
- Rockton - Cancelled
- Mohawk Gardens - Cancelled
- Meadowlands - Cancelled
Monday, May 18: All Bookmobile sites closed
Published:
Monday, May 4, 2026 - 12:00pm
Software Maintenance - Victoria Day, Monday, May 18
Due to software maintenance, HPL library's catalogue, online services and library accounts will not be available between 9am and 7pm on Monday, May 18. Thank you for your patience.
Published:
Friday, April 24, 2026 - 9:00am
Central Library: Children's Area Renovation on 2nd Floor
Renovations are currently underway for the 2nd floor Central Children's Area. Programs are still being offered as scheduled and there is a temporary pop-up Children’s Area on the northeast side of the 2nd floor (near the Piano Room), including access to collections and train tables. Construction is expected to be completed by late Spring. Thank you for your patience during this time.
Published:
Monday, March 23, 2026 - 9:00am
Sherwood Branch: Renovations
As of Monday, March 2, Sherwood Branch's 2nd floor is closed due to renovations. Makerspace, Children and Teen's collection are temporarily available on the 1st floor. All programs will be held in the basement program room. Renovations are expected to be completed in late Spring. Thank you for your patience.
Published:
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 - 1:00pm
History of City Hall
Mayor Alexander McKay (1843-1912)
The decision was made to build a new city hall. Plans were called for and the winning plan, selected on January 11, 1886, was by C.W. Mulligan. However, when the plan arrived at the tendering stage the winning design was by James Balfour (28). A plebiscite was held on the by-law to build the new City Hall on May 11, 1887, and passed 1,203 to 348. "The building will occupy part of the site of the old one, but will extend further north, covering the space between the old building and the White Elephant saloon. It is likely also, that the latter building will be pulled down to make room for the new municipal building" (29). On October 10, 1887 the bulk tender of M.A. Pigott of $126,000 with $1,000 off for the old building was accepted (30). The old city hall was photographed on November 4, 1887 with the aldermen, city officials and general public in the foreground. Mayor McKay and Adam Brown, M.P., occupied the positions of honour. The photograph was to be framed and hung in the council chamber of the new city hall (31). On October 31 the last council meeting was held in the old building (32).
Adam Brown (1826-1926)
In order to build the new city hall, the old one had to be removed and the city fathers had to move to another location for the duration. On November 28, they had approved a resolution that "[t]he building situated on James Street, formerly occupied as a Post Office, shall be used until the new City Hall be finished" (33). In November, they began to move over to the old post office. The Spectator noted that "[t]he arrangement of the old post office building is not quite completed, and has been delayed by the extremely dirty condition of the interior, which has needed to be washed three or four times before it could be made habitable. When handed over to the city it looked as if it had never been cleaned since the post office people first moved in. As an official remarked, it is to be hoped that the new post officers are taking better care of their new building" (34). Demolition began the following week.
