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The History of Baden Branch Library

(This text has been adapted from the article "Baden public library, a historic service" by Kelly Daynard, from the New Hamburg Independent September 29, 1993, and the article "Baden library offers longer opening hours, adult books" by Frances Barrick from the KW Record, Nov. 2, 1983)

The first Baden area library (1850-1860) was a traveling library. This began to change as Baden grew. By 1880, the Beck foundry was a booming business, which operated in "a time of board sidewalks, horses and buggies, hitching posts and coal oil lamps." William Melrose, a native of Scotland, came to Baden to work at the Beck foundry as their master mechanic. His efforts formed the first Baden library, known as the "Mechanics' Institute". This library was located above what was then Fred Sehl's hardware store. This space is now part of the Emporium.

Teachers from the surrounding area came by bicycle to get their books. They would sit on the small upper balcony of the library to rest before returning home. This library was quite popular and many residents were regular borrowers. Despite this success, the library was closed in the early 1900's (1910-1921). The books, however, remained on the shelves for years to come.

There was no library in the Baden area for decades. In 1957, a group of concerned community citizens decided to reopen the library. A library association was formed, with a board of ten members. Their first task was to find a new home for the library. The old Jury room of the township hall was acquired. This room had not been used for a number of years, and "it was in a very sorry state . . . bits of plaster fallen from the walls covered the shelves and traces of soot were everywhere."

Since funds were almost nonexistent, the board settled down to redecorate the room themselves. This was accomplished with a grant from the Community group, and a small donation from the police village trustees and the township council. Books with thirty-five years of dust on them were transferred from the old library to the newer facility. This move took place on a hot summer day in July of 1957. By the end, said the authors, "What a bedraggled looking group of women we were!" Some of the older books were sold to enable the group to purchase new materials.

Cataloguing of the books then began in earnest, with all interested volunteers trying desperately to learn the Dewey Decimal system. On October 3, 1957, the Baden Public Library was opened. At that time, the library was open on Wednesdays from three to 5pm and again from 7:30 to 9pm. Library cards were ten cents for school children and 25 cents for adults and high school students with a five-cent fine being levied for all overdue materials. The board members were the first librarians, working two at a time.

Board members in 1958 included Mrs. J. Stiefelmeyer as Chief Librarian and Ruth Ann Miller as Assistant. Other members included Mrs. E. Whiting, Mrs. F. Aiken, Mrs. Clarence Heipel, Mrs. Hugh Duncan, Miss Hyndman, Mrs. Willard Witmer, Mr. Lyle Miller and Mr. Melvin Harmer and Reeve Clarence Diamond.

"In spite of our amateur methods, business grew steadily with new borrowers every week." By the beginning of 1958, Mrs. J. Stiefelmeyer was appointed chief librarian and Chairman of the Board. Soon after, a special six-week course for librarians was held in Wingham.

The board interviewed Ruth Ann Miller about taking this course and after receiving her "Class E" certificate, she became the librarian. When Miller resigned, Mrs. Clayton Seyler took her place from 1960 to 1966. Seyler began her work with a roster of 72 borrowers.

In 1960, the library began to be visited by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Gowing, of the Waterloo County Co-operative Library. Their visits enabled the local branch to exchange materials for those from other facilities. During these years, teachers from Baden Public School also assisted by bringing work done by their students to decorate the facility.

The Bookmobile was opened in 1961, and allowed librarians to choose their own books from a selection of 3,000. At the end of 1960, there were 295 borrowers and by 1961, there were 350. By 1964, borrowers numbered 503 with a circulation of 4,634 materials.

The year 1965 marked a significant change for the Baden library, as it became part of the Midwestern Regional Library. During that year, the collection expanded substanially.

During 1966, a move was required. A year earlier, the Township of Wilmot announced they would be building a new hall as their Centennial project. The old building would be demolished as soon as the new one was built. Much of the old building was saved, and is now on display at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Unfortunately, the jury building, which housed the library, was destroyed.

Upon receiving notice to vacate, the library board rented the building which had formerly been the telephone office. This building was owned by the Braungart family at 25 Foundry Street. This house had once been the residence of William Melrose, the original founder of the library. This library opened on September 7, 1966. It initially consisted of one room in the home. Eventually, a second room was added and was used for years.

In 1967, the Baden and New Dundee libraries merged and became the Wilmot Township Library Board. The board and staff for 1967 consisted of Reeve Theodore Dietrich, Chairman Delmore Toman, David Bergey, Olive Shantz, Ethel Richie, Edna Stiefelmeyer and Connie Miller.

In 1968, Mrs. Connie Miller, began working at the Baden Library. Mrs. Miller was hired once Mrs. Seyler retired, and is well known by the many Baden residents that use the local facility. She recalls that her starting salary was ten dollars a month. However, she said, "That was wonderful because I wasn't expecting anything."

On January 1, 1968, the library became a branch of the Waterloo County Library. In 1973, with the establishment of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, the library became a Branch of the Waterloo Regional Library.

The library remained in the Braungart home until 1984 when the owner of the house died. The house was sold to a family that needed the library's rooms. The former hydro building in Baden was for sale, and Wilmot Township bought it for $5,645 as a possible site for the library. The plan was to gut the building and renovate it into a one-storey library. Unfortunately, the building wasn't structurally sound. It was torn down, and a new building was constructed. Township treasurer Olav den Ouden said the cost of construction was about $60,000. This included $40,000 in supplies and materials. $18,000 for labour was covered by a joint federal-provincial employment program. The township received a Wintario grant of about $18,000. This meant that $21,000 had to be picked up by the taxpayers. The Baden Board of Trade donated $1,000 to pay for the cost of the building's front brick facade. During construction, the library was housed in a Kitchener Public Library Bookmobile. This was parked next to the construction site, where the post office boxes are presently located.

The two-room library consisted of one large room with shelving and books which could also be used as a multi-purpose room, and a smaller room to store the township's archives. These archives are now located in the township administrative offices. The building, which was owned by the township, was provided rent-free to the Waterloo Regional Library committee. The committee was responsible for staffing, building maintenance, heat and utilities. The library's official opening ceremony was Thursday, November 3, 1985, at 7:30pm. Today, the library continues to be an essential component of the Baden community, sitting in its own building at 115 Snyder's Road East.

By 2005, Connie Miller had seen the library move from pencil and paper through several different versions of computers and software, LePac, MultiLis, Unicorn, but "the biggest change was having to work more than one day a week!" Connie's excellent service had caused Baden library hours to be expanded several times to meet increased demand.

Connie Miller retired August 25, 2005, and was succeeded by her daughter, Chris Baechler, a long-time Region of Waterloo Library employee.

If you would like to add to the history of this library, or to correct our information, let us know!!!

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