The washrooms at Barton Branch are out of order. We aim to get them fixed quickly.
Due to network maintenance, online resources are not available on Sunday, October 12, from 6 am to 5 pm. Thank you for your patience.
The following locations have upcoming delayed openings due to Staff training drills.
Monday, October 20
Ancaster Branch, 10 am
Tuesday, October 21
Central Library, 10 am
Sherwood Branch, 10 am
You may visit nearby Branches for your library needs. www.hpl.ca/hours
On Wednesday, October 8, the Helen Detwiler (320 Brigade Drive) visit has been changed to 11-11:30 am this week. Thank you for your understanding.
All HPL Branches are closed on Thanksgiving Monday, October 13. Bookmobile is off the road. Extended Access and Study Hall services are not available. Regular service hours resume on Tuesday, October 14. Our Virtual Branch is open at hpl.ca.
All branches close on Sunday, October 12, 2025 for Thanksgiving. This includes branches with Extended Access.
Due to the ongoing Mohawk College Support Staff strike, the Bookmobile visit on Monday, October 6, is cancelled. You may select Terryberry Branch as an alternative location to pick up your Holds. On Wednesday, October 8, the Helen Detwiler visit is changed to 11-11:30 am this week.
Interlibrary Loan (ILLO) service will be temporarily paused starting Friday, September 26, due to continued negotiations between CUPW and Canada Post. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Bring back your borrowed library items (due Oct 1 or later) within 28 days to avoid a replacement or lost fee. We'll remove the fee when you bring back your overdue items.
Due to roof repair maintenance, the Branch is temporarily closed from September 2 until October 14. Please visit the Red Hill, Parkdale, and Barton locations as your nearest branches for your library needs. Thank you for your patience.
Desjardins Canal Disaster
The remains of the bridge and the cars
A vast concourse of people gathered round the scene of the disaster yesterday. All day men were engaged breaking into pieces the first passenger car, which had been nearly submerged. It was found impossible to raise it bodily. The locomotive and tender are still under water. The second passenger car was broken up, and carried away the first evening of the disaster. The bridge has been allowed to remain precisely as it was broken; and will, we apprehend, be allowed to continue so until after the inquest, and after thorough inspection by competent engineers. It was a matter of utter astonishment to every one, how any person could have escaped, after such a fearful fall.
The walls on either sides are of very solid masonry; the adjacent banks are perhaps a hundred feet higher than the railroad. The suspension bridge is thrown over immediately on the right, and is still higher. Then, about sixty feet below the railroad is a narrow deep channel, which looks like a sort of chasm between two high hills. Into this abyss was hurled the ill-fated train. It was just wide enough to let the cars down without touching anything to break their fall. They literally leaped sixty feet into ice and water, one passenger car following the locomotive and completely overturning, and becoming almost submerged; and the other lighting endways upon this. Great as has been the loss of life, considering the number of passengers; yet, looking at the place, it is absolutely wonderful how any one escaped.