{"id":3899,"date":"2025-08-18T11:48:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T17:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/?p=3899"},"modified":"2025-08-18T12:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:01:55","slug":"how-a-woman-made-her-dream-come-true-and-gave-the-city-a-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/eternal-3899-how-a-woman-made-her-dream-come-true-and-gave-the-city-a-library","title":{"rendered":"How a woman made her dream come true and gave the city a library"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the early 20th century, Calgary was still a small town with just a few thousand residents and hardly any proper roads. However, a group of determined women decided their community was lacking a touch of refinement and set out to cultivate culture<\/a> in the city. In this article on calgarynka<\/a>, we’ll share the story of the courageous women who succeeded in opening Calgary’s first library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How It All Began: A Literary Club for Women<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The group was led by Annie Davidson, who had arrived in Calgary from Manitoba with a suitcase full of books. Davidson was a widow who simply wanted to live closer to her children. She had ten children in total, but six had already passed away from illness or accidents. For Davidson, reading was an escape from reality. She was especially fond of the classics and the Bible. Her passion for books allowed her to meet many interesting people and gave her a great purpose in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1906, at the age of 68, she founded the Calgary Women’s Literary Club. The women met weekly at Davidson’s home to discuss the books they had read. Their reading list was impressive; it wasn’t just detective stories or romance novels. They delved into books on philosophy and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these women were recent arrivals to the city, trying to adapt to life in the community. One member described the club as a place to escape from the mundane. Through books, they found what was otherwise out of reach in a small town: adventure, romance, new emotions, and travel. As the club grew, Davidson became convinced that the community needed a library accessible to people of all social statuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening the Library<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Davidson managed to contact the American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who was donating thousands of dollars to build free public libraries in cities across North America. Carnegie offered a donation of about $80,000 to build a library in Calgary. While it was a significant sum, the agreement stipulated that the community would also contribute funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To secure the deal, they needed to collect signatures from 10 percent of the city’s male population, as women were not allowed to vote at the time. It was a challenging task, but Davidson eventually gathered the necessary hundreds of signatures. She and her friends deeply believed in this idea. She wanted to create a safe and engaging space for women in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The library opened in 1912. It was a two-storey building located in Central Memorial Park, with an initial collection of 5,000 books. The building was designed by the architectural firm McLean & Wright. It resembled other Carnegie-funded libraries, featuring his signature columns, stone steps, and a curved fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, Davidson herself never got to see the result of her hard work. Before the library opened, she moved to Montreal and passed away shortly after, but her legacy lived on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the Library Grew<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The library thrived and grew without its founder. After Davidson’s death, Alexander Calhoun took the helm. He was a bold leader who decided to focus on a younger audience, even though libraries at the time were traditionally for adults. He launched various courses and programs for people of all ages. The library became especially popular during the Great Depression, so much so that they had to limit the number of books each person could borrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the city boasts 20 public libraries. The Memorial Park Library, the one Davidson founded, still stands and remains a place to find quality literature. We can still see the results of the fruitful work of these past Calgarians and appreciate their conviction that culture is what truly builds a community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the early 20th century, Calgary was still a small town with just a few thousand residents and hardly any proper roads. However, a group of determined women decided their community was lacking a touch of refinement and set out to cultivate culture in the city. In this article on calgarynka, we’ll share the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":402,"featured_media":3886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1035],"tags":[2665,2113,2664,2671,2668,2662,2670,2667,2669,2666,2663],"motype":[1045],"moformat":[66],"moimportance":[34,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-3899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-psychology-of-women","8":"tag-andrew-carnegie","9":"tag-annie-davidson","10":"tag-calgary","11":"tag-calgary-culture","12":"tag-first-library-in-calgary","13":"tag-library-history","14":"tag-memorial-park-library","15":"tag-public-libraries","16":"tag-urban-development","17":"tag-women-and-culture","18":"tag-womens-literary-club","19":"motype-eternal","20":"moformat-vlasna","21":"moimportance-golovna-novina","22":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatori"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3900,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3899\/revisions\/3900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3899"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=3899"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=3899"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calgarynka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=3899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}