Study Hall on Thursday, May 21, is cancelled due to plumbing maintenance. Study Hall will resume on Monday, May 25. Thank you for your patience.
Turner Park - Study Hall Cancellation
Published:
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 12:00pm
Staff Professional Development Day - All Branches Closed
All HPL Branches are closed on Friday May 29, for Staff Professional Development. Bookmobile is off the road and Extended Access service is not available. Regular service hours resume on Saturday May 30.
Visit our Virtual Branch at hpl.ca for our online resources and collections.
Published:
Thursday, May 14, 2026 - 12:00pm
Greensville Branch Accessible Washroom Out of Order
The accessible washroom at Greensville Branch is not working. We aim to get it fixed quickly.
Published:
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 - 10:15am
Central Library: Children's Area Renovation on 2nd Floor
Renovations are currently underway for the 2nd Floor Central Children's Area. Programs are still being offered as scheduled and there is a temporary pop-up Children’s Area on the northeast side of the 2nd Floor (near the Piano Room), including access to collections and train tables. Construction is expected to be completed by late Spring. Thank you for your patience.
Published:
Monday, March 23, 2026 - 9:00am
Sherwood Branch: Renovations
As of Monday, March 2, Sherwood Branch's 2nd Floor is closed due to renovations. Makerspace, Children and Teen's collection are temporarily available on the 1st Floor. All programs will be held in the basement program room. Renovations are expected to be completed in late Spring. Thank you for your patience.
Published:
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 - 1:00pm
History of City Hall
By 1929 the Spectator was referring to city hall as "antiquated and inadequate". The newspaper suggested that rebuilding the hall was a necessity (49). 1944 found the paper calling the building a "firetrap" (50). In 1947 the pinnacles were denounced as dangerous, with the case of Smokey the City Hall cat, who fell two floors and walked away unharmed cited as evidence that the balustrade should be made more safe (51). Official debate had to wait until 1946, once the immediate problems created by the war had been put aside. The press reported on some of the problems facing city hall: patches of corroded marble were coming off the walls of the basement offices of the tax office, repaired linoleum in the office of the city auditor was alleged to resemble a patch-work quilt, plaster was peeling, walls needed washing (52), and the third floor in the north-east portion of the building was sagging (53).
The back of City Hall (1890-1960)
The first official assault on city hall was fired by E.G. Faludi on publication of his Master Plan for the Development of the City of Hamilton published in 1947: "The City Hall, built in 1888, can no longer fulfil either the present or the future needs for efficient administration. The building is obsolete, and too small to accommodate the expanded functions of the civic administration. A number of municipal offices have had to locate elsewhere, to the inconvenience of both the taxpayer and the departments concerned. The existence of the City Hall on its present location is an obstacle to the improvement of the central commercial area and to the elimination of the most pressing traffic problems of the City. It occupies valuable commercial frontages, which could be utilized for modern commercial buildings. It prevents the widening of the lane and of James Street, necessary for the free flow of traffic into the Market and at the James, York, King William intersection" (54).
His plan was adopted in principle but nothing was done to implement any of it. During this same period several nebulous offers floated around concerning the purchase of the old city hall, including one rather spectacular offer of $1,000,000.00 by a "reputable retail firm (not Eatons)". Eatons also made an offer to purchase at this time (55). Civic protests as council rallied to tender the market, city hall and health centre stopped these plans from going forward.
