The Dresden branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library is celebrating 100 years of bringing free books to the community.
The public is invited Oct. 26 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to step back in time and join the Dresden staff playing games, drinking lemonade and eating homemade cookies. Feel free to dress up in period costumes.
One hundred years ago, Andrew Carnegie donated money so that the Dresden community could enjoy the advantages of a public library. It was fashioned like so many seen over the years, but today, the Dresden branch is the only working Carnegie library left in Chatham-Kent.
Carnegie was a highly influential philanthropist and businessman and dedicated much of his life and his self-made fortune to educational causes, according to a release from the library. His biggest initiative, driven by his strong belief in and passion for free education, was the creation of 2,509 free public libraries in Ontario and another 14 elsewhere in Canada.
The funds contributed significantly to the development of literacy in small communities across this province. The Dresden community received $8,000 from the Carnegie Foundation in November 1906 and the library was built in 1913.
