Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Beaconsfield Public Library Beaconsfield, Kimberley, Northern Cape

Date: 1889 Type: Library Status: Extant Street: 39 Central Rd   Click to view large map Coordinates: Alt: 1213m

See more photographs 10 May 1889, Beaconsfield Public Library opens. The Beaconsfield Library has always been in what is now known as the Gardner Williams Hall. Initially the library committee wished to add a “lean-to” to the Beaconsfield Town Hall, but after protracted negotiations with John Blades Currey, were allowed to utilise certain rooms of the London and South African Exploration Company Beaconsfield offices instead. The L and SA Exploration Company buildings are now the Gardner Williams Hall. The library has been there since 1889. While the 10th of May 1889 is the day the library opened for business, the official opening with all its pomp and glory was ten days later, on 20 May 1889. (Kimberley City Info accessed August 2024) "Originally the offices of the London and South African Exploration Co. It must date back to the 1870's because by 1883 it was already referred to as ex-Government Offices. It was also built of the same slate or stone as the oldest part of Du Toitspan Cemetery and also corresponds to the stone used in Du Toitspan Villiage as is shown by the remaining ruins. It has been occupied by the Beaconsfield Library since it's formation in 1889." (Source: Restorica 5, 1978, p20.)