Carnegie Library, 40 Albert Street
In the late nineteenth century, Waterloo's free library was located in a room in the town hall, an arrangement that had begun to become inadequate by the beginning of the twentieth century. With an eye to remedying this situation, the town applied to industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie for a grant of $10,000 to build and equip a library building. As with most such requests, this application was approved on the conditions that the municipality provide a suitable site and spend a sum of at least 10% of the grant in annual maintenance, typical conditions for such grants. Work on the new building began on July 11, 1903, and the cornerstone was laid on November 12 of that year by David Bean, Mayor of Waterloo. This cornerstone, with the words "Carnegie" and "1903", can be seen on the south-east corner of the building. The library was opened to the public on November 1, 1905. It is a fairly typical Carnegie Library, with the main entrance at the end of stairs well above street level.
