The sliding door at Terryberry Branch is not working properly. Please use accessible ramp entrance.
Due to network maintenance, online resources and Guest Wi-Fi will not be available from 6 am Sunday, October 12 to 7 am Monday, October 13. 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
Thursday, October 23
Locke Branch, 10am
You may visit nearby Branches for your library needs. www.hpl.ca/hours
All branches close on Sunday, October 12, 2025 for Thanksgiving. This includes branches with Extended Access.
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.
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 20. Please visit the Red Hill, Parkdale, and Barton locations as your nearest branches for your library needs. Thank you for your patience.
Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway Company of Canada Papers (1862-1879) were presented to the Hamilton Public Library by Mr. Frank Jones in September 1966, along with an interesting story about their being saved from destruction, as recounted below:
"In November 1963, a Canadian National Railway storehouse at the foot of Queen Street North in Hamilton was destroyed with all of its contents by order of the railway management. The storehouse contained all of the papers and records of the Great Western Railway Company of Canada from, probably, about 1854 until its absorption by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1882.
Employees of the Steel Company of Canada at their Ontario Works, which property adjoins the railway yard, picked up a few sheets which had blown onto the Steel Company property and brought them to Mr. Frank Jones of the Industrial Relations General Office. Realizing their value and historical importance, Mr. Jones at once made enquiries about the preservation of the rest of the records, but by that time it was too late.
Thus the early railroad paylists, casualty reports, time sheets, and in fact, most of the papers connected with the beginning of the railroad history in Hamilton were destroyed by persons in authority who lacked all sense of the value of early railroad documents.
The papers were presented to the Hamilton Public Library in September of 1966 by Mr. Frank Jones."
Mary Harrington Farmer
September 1966
1. Pay lists
Dec. 21, 1862 - Jan. 3, 1863 Windsor inside loco dept. - 1
Jan. 4 - 17, 1863 Mechanical dept. - 2
Jan. 4 - 17, 1863 Windsor inside loco dept. - 3
Jan. 18 - 31, 1863 Mechanical dept. - 4
Jan. 18 - 31, 1863 Windsor inside loco dept. - 5
Feb. 1 - 14, 1863 Mechanical dept. - 6
Feb. 1 - 14, 1863 Hamilton inside loco dept. - 7 to 12
Jan. 4 - 17, 1863 Hamilton inside loco dept. - 13 to 18
Jan. 18 - 31, 1863 Hamilton inside loco dept. - 19 to 24
Jan. 4 - 17, 1863 Niagara Toronto inside loco dept. - 25
Jan. 4 - 17, 1863 London inside loco dept. - 26
Jan. 18 - 31, 1863 Niagara toronto inside loco dept. - 27
Jan. 18 - 31, 1863 London inside loco dept. - 28
2. a. Time Sheets
Pages 29 to 75
August 1875
October 1875
December 1875
February 1876
April 1876
June 1876
August 1876
For:
E. Burk
W. Pouley
W. Steers
J. Lister
C. Farr
M. Mullin
A. Collins
2. b. Time Sheets
Pages 76 to 103
May 1878
July 1878
September 1878
November 1878
January 1879
March 1879
May 1879
For:
W. McLean
J. Sullavan
E. Richardson
H.F. Kivell
J. McGrory
E.L. Richardson
A. McDonald
J. Males
G. Bunn
J. Brierley
M. McCardall
3. Engine drivers' returns
Aug. 6, 1881 Engine no. 116 - 104
Aug. 6, 1881 Engine no. 344 - 105
Aug. 7, 1881 Engine no. 344 - 106
Aug. 8, 1881 Engine no. 344 - 107
Aug. 8, 1881 Engine no. 116 - 108
4. Casualty reports
July 11, 1874 Hamilton station - 109 to 110
Feb. 25, 1876 St. Thomas station - 111 to 112
5. Telegraphic train order
Dec. 24, 18-- Order to train no. 12 at Galt - 113
-------- Printed instructions to train
operators, by C. Stiff,
superintendent - 114