History

Kingston has had a lending library since 1812. While the city's first library collections were provided by private citizens, anyone could borrow books for a small fee.

In 1834, when the Kingston Mechanics' Institute was established, it absorbed the Kingston Library and was housed over a drugstore at Montreal and Princess. The Mechanics' Institute Library made several moves during the 1800s: from above a confectionery store, to a former inn and coach station (currently Vandervoort's Hardware), to an upper apartment at 21 Montreal Street.

By the time it took up residence in an empty butcher shop in 1911, it had already been listed in the Kingston City Directory as Kingston Public Library. One more move – to the Milk Trust Building at the corner of Brock and Bagot Street – brought the library to its home from 1925 until the construction of a new building at Johnson and Bagot, which became the library's Central branch in 1978.

This building adjoins the former residence of Bishop Alexander Macdonnell (later the Notre Dame Convent), a limestone structure (fittingly) built circa 1812.

Kingscourt Branch was added in 1959 and Calvin Park in 1966, bringing the urban system to a total of three locations.

The passing of the Public Libraries Act in 1895 was followed by the creation of a library in Sydenham in 1903. Before the Frontenac County Library system was established, Pittsburgh and Kingston Townships received a rotating supply of books from the Kingston Public Library, and, as a “remote area,” Wolfe Island received shipments of books from the Travelling Library Service operating out of Toronto.

Arden, Sharbot Lake, Hartington, Cloyne and Sydenham joined the new County library system in 1969, followed by Storrington (1970), Barriefield (1971), and Mountain Grove (1972).  Growth continued during the 1970s, as the Days Road Kingston Township branch opened in 1974, Ompah in 1977, and Parham in 1979.  Hartington and Storrington libraries moved to their current locations in 1982, and branches were opened on Howe Island and Wolfe Island in 1984 and in Plevna in 1986.  In December 1997 the newly built Isabel Turner Branch opened its doors.

1998 saw the province-wide municipal amalgamation which joined the Kingston Public Library to the Frontenac County Library, creating the 16-branch Kingston Frontenac Public Library we now enjoy.