The Lost Valley: The Portland N.B. Library - few traces remain of an historic institution

Saint John used to be a great book town, a city of prodigious readers. If you think I'm exaggerating pick up a copy of George Stewart's The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B. and you will discover the whole of Chapter XIX is devoted to the unique private libraries and art collections consumed by the conflagration of June 20, 1877. Stewart wrote, “Though in St. John we had no public library, there were many private collections of books in the city. Some of them were very large and well selected,” and he proceeded to describe over a dozen of those collections in detail. Compare Stewart’s mournful lament for “those precious books we all loved so dearly” to the reportage of any of the great calamities of our own time. Libraries no longer make anyone’s list.

The Town of Portland was spared by Saint John's fire but nevertheless it was first to take up the challenge of establishing a public library and to invest in purchasing a comprehensive collection suitable for a modern readership. I do not know an earlier address for the library but when UNION HALL was built at 361 Main Street, by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, their library opened in one large room on the second floor. The Carnegie Library in Saint John gets all the glory, but the Portland Library was established first.

I do not know if construction of the W.C.T.U. meeting hall preceded the amalgamation of the Town of Portland and the City of Saint John. Originally the service was jointly managed by the Directors of Union Hall and the W.C.T.U. It was called the TOWN OF PORTLAND - FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. In time the "North End Union" assumed full responsibility and employed a full-time librarian. Although I have not seen a copy, I know that the W.C.T.U. had the entire library catalog printed in book form and distributed to subscribers. Subscribers paid $1 per year for the right to borrow books and the general public was permitted to step in from the street to read in the periodical section.

After Portland was absorbed, residents of the North End constituted a full third of Saint John's tax base, but the North End Library received only 1/4 of the annual Library appropriation. It was a situation resented by North Enders. I have only a few statistics at hand but I do know that in 1897 the Portland Library had 657 paid subscribers, some from as far as Millidgeville and Pokiok, who did not wish to cross over the valley for reading material.

UNION HALL, 361 Main Street: In this photo made in August of 1912, we can see the "Public Library" above the entrance to the STAR Nickelodeon. Just for fun, note the street mailbox and the fire hydrant. Compare these sidewalk artifacts to those in the colour photo supplied by H.E. Wright

The bookplate pasted into the library's copy of UNDERGROUND RUSSIA by "Stepniak" , Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1883.

Cataloging for the Portland N.B. Library copy of THE LITTLE REGIMENT by Stephen Crane, D. Appleton and Company, N.Y., 1896.

I have two books which were once part of the Portland collection and I reproduce a catalog label. Harold Wright tells me he has seen a very elaborate label, and if one turns up I will add it to this article. If these two book titles are representative, then I think the Portland Public Library must have been a rather robust collection. I believe I purchased them at The Book Broker on Union Street in the 1970s. I confess I have always had some interest in the Russian Anarchists so "Stepniak" was an easy choice for me. His real name was Serge M. Kravchinski, and there is a Stepniak Wiki page here. Stephen Crane is also an old interest, and he had a Saint John connection which I might write about here in future. It's quite possible that one of the Saint John newspapers mentioned it at the time of Crane's death in 1900.

In October of 2007 I contacted the reference desk of the Saint John Free Public Library, hoping to locate a photo of the Portland Library for use in a Blog article. I was very surprised to learn they do not have one. It's taken me eleven months but I now have enough images to share an article with Lost Valley readers.

This image, c.1958, shows a corner of Union Hall and facade of the old BANK OF NEW BRUNSWICK building. Forward thinking administrators would never have allowed the bank's demolition. The "Public Library" entrance sign is still visible at 361 Main Street.

This is a photo taken by H.E. Wright just before the demolition of Union Hall. Of course by then it was popularly know as Welsford's. Note the tiny Bank of Nova Scotia building that replaced the wonderful old Bank of New Brunswick building. Also, for fun, compare this picture to the 1912 image. The fire plug is in exactly the same spot but a red Canada Post street box replaced the Royal Mail box which once was fifty feet further up slope.