1950-1959

Ida Gove at the corner of Main Street (Weston Road) and King Street Crescent

Weston Library received some much needed repairs and refurbishments during the 1950s, its annual reports recorded. In 1950 the removal of the Children's Department from the main floor to the basement was completed. In 1952, the building was entirely reroofed with asphalt tile, and the floor of the main library, the staircase and the vestibule were recovered with rubber tile, “a considerable improvement over the old floor.” The grounds were landscaped in spring 1953, “much admired during summer and fall.”  The Boys' and Girls' Room was redecorated in 1954; “the walls and ceilings were painted yellow and the furniture was refinished in a light shade.” New front doors were installed in 1955. “They improve the appearance of the Library both inside and out as well as keeping us considerably warmer.” 

In 1952, for the first time, the library remained open during August.  Staff was pleased because “it increased our circulation and did away with that horrible jumble of hundreds of books going out the end of July and coming back the first of September and many books getting lost in the process.  The public was pleased because it meant that they could get books all summer.”

With the post-war baby boom in high gear, children flocked to Weston Library. Monthly film programs were so popular (attendance was between 200 and 300) that the Library stopped borrowing a projector from the Presbyterian Church and purchased its own equipment in 1955.

In 1954, the Weston Lions Club donated $200 for the purchase of technical books, and promised to make this an annual donation.

Circulation skyrocketed during the first part of the decade, but Weston officials did not anticipate that this trend would continue since new libraries were opening in Toronto’s burgeoning suburbs. They noted in 1955, “our neighbours - Etobicoke and North York are both expanding and thus are providing library service for people who formerly had to come to Weston.”