Ontario, Canada Recollections

Recollections (Late 1980s to Mid 1990s)

During the late 1980s and into the mid 1990s, I remember the McGregor Branch of the Essex County Library being located at 9532 Walker Rd. (County Rd. 11) in McGregor (Amherstburg), Ontario.

It was a rectangular, flat-roofed, two-storey building, with the library occupying the bulk of the ground floor. I believe that the exterior of the first storey was clad with pale light green metal siding, while the second storey was clad with similar white siding. I’m not sure what the second storey was used for, but it may have been a residential space.

This is how I recall it being approximately laid out internally at that time:

The library’s entrance was in the centre of the east wall of the ground floor, and near to the Walker Rd. sidewalk. The front door was recessed into the building a few feet, within a trapezoidal-shaped area. There were large windows on either side of the main door. I think there was an after-hours book return slot within the recessed entry area, to the south of the door, with the books being deposited into a container behind the librarian’s desk.

Inside, the publicly-accessible part of the library was roughly L-shaped. The south portion went deeper west into the building than the north portion, although I’m not sure if it went all the way to the rear exterior (west) wall of the building. I think there was an interior wall blocking off an area that was farther to the west.

I recall there being another door to the exterior along the south wall, toward the west end of the publicly-accessible area, opening to a lawn area south of the building. I think it was primarily an emergency exit, and not used as part of the library’s daily operations as far as I know.

The librarian’s desk was located near the front of the building, at the east end of the south portion. A librarian seated at the desk would face west, looking into the library. I remember the desk itself just being a large metal office desk.

The north part of the publicly-accessible area only went perhaps two-thirds of the way back into the building. There was a doorway (and I think a few steps) at the west end of this area that led to a hallway that went farther west into the structure. To the north of the hallway, near where it connected to the main area of the library, there was a single-occupancy washroom with a toilet and a sink. I recall the washroom fixtures seeming very outdated. I’m not sure what was down the hallway beyond the washroom, but I’m pretty sure that there were areas at the west end of the building that weren’t open to the public.

I remember there being a square pillar in the middle of the ground floor area, presumably supporting the second storey of the building. I think that a bulletin board was affixed to the east side of the pillar, with information and other displays pinned to the board, easily visible to anyone entering the library. The physical card catalogue unit might have been located west of this pillar.

The south, west, and north walls of the south area had full-height bookshelves. I recall the Dewey Decimal System being used to organize the books, with the 000 class starting on the east-most shelf along the south wall, and continuing around clockwise to the west. I think there were also full-length bookshelves on the west and north walls of the north part.

I vaguely recall the south part feeling more open than the north part. There was at least some space in the south area for library users to wait in line in front of the librarian’s desk. There may also have been some tables and chairs within the south area for library users, but I’m not sure about this. I think there were bookshelves, possibly half-height, within the middle of the north area.

In terms of computers for public use or staff use, I don’t recall there being any, at least during the 1980s and early 1990s.

I clearly remember book checkouts there being processed by hand. A library user wishing to take out books was issued a periodically-expiring cardboard library card, filled out by hand by the librarian. This would then be presented to the librarian whenever checking out books. A cardboard borrowing card system was used to track any checked-out books.

There were definitely books available at the branch, but I don’t remember if there were VHS tapes, audio cassette tapes, or other media available to be borrowed. The collection itself was perhaps a quarter or so the size of that at the Essex County Library’s two-storey Amherstburg branch at 232 Sandwich St. S. in the Town of Amherstburg.

I recall Nancy Brown being the main librarian there. There was also another librarian who would sometimes be working there, but I cannot remember her name.

At some point, possibly in the late 1990s, the branch moved to a now-demolished building at 9557 Walker Rd., on the opposite side of the street and approximately 250 m to the north. I do not recall ever going into the location. It then moved again to 9571 Walker Rd. (in a new building built near the site of the demolished St. Clement Parish Hall), where it remains as of 2026. I have never been to that location, either.

Other Information

Archived webpages about the branch from the Essex County Library’s website refer to the “9532 Walker Rd.” address. (Although the other content within the webpages seems to have been relevantly updated over time, the “9532 Walker Rd.” address apparently continued to appear on the pages, possibly even long after the move to the subsequent 9557 Walker Rd. location. Some of the archived versions of webpages from 2002 and onward appear to reference a 2007-archived photograph of the 9557 Walker Rd. building.):

• 1999-10-02
• 1999-11-05
• 2000-09-19
• 2000-12-08
• 2001-04-11
• 2001-12-25
• 2002-08-23
• 2002-11-10
• 2002-12-12: This archived page, although apparently from 2002, features a photograph that appears to have been archived on 2007-07-18 based on the URL, and that depicts the subsequent branch location at 9557 Walker Rd.
• 2003-02-25
• 2003-07-16
• 2003-08-13
• 2003-11-24
• 2003-12-10
• 2004-06-23
• 2004-08-11
• 2007-07-18

Archived versions of a broader list of branches on the Essex County Library’s website appear to mention the subsequent “9557 Walker Rd.” address as early as 2001:

• 2001-01-05
• 2001-12-26
• 2004-04-29

There are some by-law documents within the Town of Amherstburg’s Record Repository pertaining to the library (direct links do not appear to work):

• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1979 / “By-law 2225 - Agreement with Essex County Library Board.pdf”: Concerns the Township of Anderdon providing some funding toward eight years of rental costs associated with opening a McGregor library branch. The address of the library does not appear to be mentioned. The by-law notes that, “the Essex County Library Board is desirous to open a branch library in Mc Gregor, due to the volume of books being used in the area from their bookmobile”.
• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1987 / “By-law 2657 - Agreement with Essex County Library Board.pdf”: Concerns the Township of Anderdon providing some funding toward the 1988 and 1989 rental costs. The address of the library does not appear to be mentioned.
• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1992 / “By-law 2885 - Agreement with Colchester North and Essex County Library Board.pdf”: Includes far more details:
  • On PDF page 2, it states, “AND WHEREAS the Corporations are presently leasing the said facility from Garnet Meloche and Gertrude Meloche pursuant to the terms of a lease dated December 31, 1978, as amended by amending agreements dated January 1, 1986, January 1, 1988, and January 1, 1990;”
  • On PDF page 6, it states, “For the purposes of this paragraph the total floor area of the entire building shall be deemed to be 2,093 square feet.”
  • On PDF page 10, it describes the location, but without giving the street address:
    • “Lot 7, Concession 8 in the Township of Anderdon”
    • “the southerly limit of the lands belonging to the Canada Southern railway Company;”
    • “the westerly limit of the Town line between the Townships of Anderdon and Colchester North;”
    • dimensions such as “217.14'”, “233.64'”, “76.23'”
    • “containing by admeasurement one-fifth of an acre more or less”
  • On PDF page 11, it mentions the “lower level of the building” as having “a total useable floor area of 535 square feet”, and “Use of the hallway and washroom is included.”
• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1992 / “By-law 2888 - Agreement with Colchester North and Gertrude Meloche re. McGregor Library.pdf”:
  • On PDF page 2, it states, “WHEREAS by a lease dated the 31st day of December, 1978 between Garnet and Gertrude Meloche and the County of Essex Library Board for a building known as the McGregor Library was leased to the Essex County Library Board for a term of 8 years, AND WHEREAS by mutual agreement the lease was extended to December 31, 1991,”
  • On PDF page 2, it also states, “Term of the lease shall be from January 1, 1992 to December 21, 1992;”
• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1994 / “By-law 2976 - Agreement with Colchester North, Gertrude Meloche and Darlene Valente re. McGregor Library.pdf”:
  • On PDF page 1, it states, “AND WHEREAS Gertrude Meloche and Darlene Valente are willing to lease the building known as the McGregor Library to the Corporation of the Township of Anderdon and the Corporation of the Township of Colchester North.”
  • On PDF page 2, it states, “Term of the lease shall be from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1995;”
• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1996 / “By-law 3026 - Lease Agreement with Colchester North, Gertrude Meloche and Darlene Valente re. McGregor Library.pdf”:
  • On PDF page 2, it states, “Term of the lease shall be from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1996;”
• By-Laws / Pre-Amalgamation / Anderdon / 1997 / “By-law 3097 - Agreement with Colchester North re. McGregor Library.pdf”:
  • On PDF page 2, it states, “WHEREAS the Essex County Library Board is agreeable to move the library facility from the present location, being a building owned by Gertrude Meloche, to a new location at 9557 County Road #11, Plan 243 Lot 7, owned by the Corporation of the Township of Colchester North;”
  • On PDF page 2, it also states, “Term of the lease shall be from August 1st, 1997 to December 31st, 1997.”
  • On PDF page 4, it states, “It is anticipated the library will open at the new location, on September 2nd, 1997.”

The textual location description on PDF page 10 of Anderdon By-law 2885 does seem to describe the 9532 Walker Rd. location. The building’s lot and concession number, the location relative to the railway and the town line, the frontage distance, and the total area correspond to what the “2000 Aerial” Base Map and 9532 Walker Rd. property details from https://gisweb.countyofessex.ca/AmherstburgLaunch/ show:

The “Council Briefs: Library too cramped for comfort” (The Windsor Star; 26 Jan 1996; B.3.) article mentions, “A new wrinkle has been added to talks between Anderdon and Colchester North Township councils dealing with the fate of the McGregor branch of the county library system. The two township governments have been leasing a site in that village to house the library for the past several years, but it is becoming too cramped to accommodate demanded services. Last year, the two councils began an exploration of alternatives, including the possibility of leasing, buying or constructing a new facility.” The article further describes a proposal to relocate the library to Co-An Park.

The 2018-05-21 “Railroad, sawmill and killer snakes? McGregor history to be explored May 31” article in The Windsor Star mentions “Retired librarian Nancy Brown” giving a presentation about the history of McGregor. The 2018-05-24 “Town Of Essex To Highlight McGregor History” article from windsorite.ca about the presentation also mentions “retired librarian, Nancy Brown”.

The slide shown at 00:05:43 of the “March 2021 - The Marsh Collection & McGregor History” presentation video lists “Nancy Brown” and includes “1979 Library Supervisor at the McGregor Branch of the Essex County Library” in its description of her. She herself begins speaking at 00:21:25. At 00:21:48, she mentions spending “thirty-plus years” working with the Essex County Library, and “twenty of which were at the McGregor branch starting in 1979”. At 01:03:25, she also mentions “seventeen years where the library was right next door to the hotel”, with “hotel” referring to the building at 9530 Walker Rd. (County Rd. 11).

Google Street View imagery from July 2009 shows the building with a sign mentioning “24 and more flavors of soft serve” and “www.icecreamflavors.com”. The exterior cladding appears different from what I remember it being when the building was being used for the library. Other imagery from July 2009 depicting the south side of the building shows some of the newer siding missing, with the older green and white cladding apparently being visible beneath it.

As late as the August 2018 Google Street View imagery, the exterior of the building still generally looks like I remember it looking like when it was the library. By July 2021, the building apparently underwent some renovations that noticeably changed its exterior appearance.

Although it looks different than it did when it was used as the library, the building still appears to be there as of the July 2025 Google Street View imagery.