Carnegie Library, Runcorn - History

History

The first free public library in Runcorn was established in 1882. This was housed in a room in the Town Hall, which was at that time Waterloo House in Waterloo Road. It was opened with great celebration by Sir John Picton, the chairman of the Liverpool Free Library Committee. The demand was so great that within a year two more rooms were required and a reading room was opened. Three years later two additional rooms were opened and in 1889 a lady's reading room was provided. In 1897 further books and a natural history collection were added to the library and it was further expanded the following year. This was still inadequate for the demands being made upon it and it was decided that the only solution would be an entirely new building. An appeal for a grant towards a new building was made to Andrew Carnegie, who had provided grants for many other libraries in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Following what seemed at first to have been a refusal, Carnegie gave a grant of £3,000. The new library was built adjacent to Waterloo House. It was designed by James Wilding, surveyor and water engineer to the Runcorn Urban District Council. The library was opened with little ceremony on 1 December 1906 by Mr. D. Bisbrown, chairman of the Council. It remained Runcorn's central library until the development of a new town in Runcorn in the 1960s and 1970s. Then a larger library was opened adjacent to the new shopping centre at Halton Lea, and the Carnegie Library became a branch library. It closed in 2012.