JOHANNESBURG CITY LIBRARY IS 90 YEARS OLD

The Johannesburg City Library celebrates its 90th anniversary today, 06 August 2025.

The Italianate-style building with a colonnaded façade and marble staircase started off as a corrugated iron structure in 1893. The recent refurbishments have preserved its architectural beauty while enhancing access to resources. The reopening is on Saturday, 09 August 2025.

The library houses a renowned Africana collection, featuring rare books, archival photographs, and historical maps that document Johannesburg’s history. It also offers digital literacy workshops, public talks, art exhibitions, and a children’s section that nurtures a love of reading through interactive storytelling sessions. There are quiet study areas and rooftop reading terraces. A large-scale model of the Balmoral Castle ship, which brought the library’s book in 1910, is on display. The library is open Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 5pm.

In 1889, a group of Johannesburg residents met to discuss the formation of a public library. They formed a committee to raise funds, find a building and purchase books. Books were ordered from London and the library opened in June 1890. The committee members served as librarians until February 1891, when the library’s first librarian, Robert Campbell HEMMING, was employed. Robert was born in 1839 and died in 1906. Initially he was a shopkeeper in Fraserburg, before becoming the librarian. He married Alice Elizabeth SCHREINER.

It started as a subscription library, with members paying a subscription to use the facilities. In 1894, the library received a grant from the South African Republic government of £250. Balls, lectures, and donations from the Randlords kept the library funded. The first library was a corrugated iron structure built in 1893 and known as the Old Church Building.

In 1898, a new structure on Kerk Street was built, consisting of three floors with shops on the ground level, the library in the middle, and dwelling rooms on the third. Rents from the dwelling rooms were used to fund the building’s mortgage. In October 1899, the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) broke out, and the librarian and most of the English residents of Johannesburg fled the Transvaal. A Boer burgher Mr. A.G. ROSSOUW, was asked to take care of the library. When the British retook the town in 1900, he reopened it and ran it until the librarian could return.

After the war ended in 1902, the Johannesburg Town Council was formed, and they offered to take control of the library. In March 1904 a professional librarian from Liverpool, James Finister CADENHEAD of the Wallasey Public Library, was employed. The members refused the council’s offer but did accept a grant from the council for a free reading room with a limited number of free memberships. Further grants were given over the years, and the council obtained membership on the library committee. When the grants ended in 1921, the library faced severe financial difficulties.

By 1922, the old library building in Kerk Street had taken over the other two floors it used to rent out, and the town council offered them the use of land in Market Square if a library and museum were built. The council was able to force a vote in 1924, which it won, to establish it as a municipal library. Construction of a new library, designed by Cape Town architect John PERRY, started in 1929. The new library in the present building opened on August 6, 1935. By the 1960s, the library was running out of storage space, and the gardens in front of it were excavated to extend the underground stacks and store more than 750,000 books.

In 1974, the Johannesburg City Library made history by becoming the first public library in South Africa to welcome people of all races.

The library was closed from 2009 to 2012 for extensive modernisation by conservation architect Jonathan STONE. It was reopened to the public on 14 February 2012. The renovation was funded with a conditional grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York of $2 million, and the City of Johannesburg spent a further R55 million on the project. The library closed again at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The city government claimed the building was undergoing urgent repairs, but the library remained closed until it was finally partially reopened on 21 March 2025.

ROBERT CAMPBELL HEMMING
He was born on 18 December 1837 in County Kerry, Ireland, the son of John Stephen HEMMING and Elizabeth HARRIS.
He died on 07 October 1906 (pneumonia) at Johannesburg Public Library, where he lived on the top floor. He was buried at Braamfontein Cemetery.
Initially he was a shopkeeper in Fraserburg, before becoming the librarian in Johannesburg. He married Alice Elizabeth SCHREINER on 10 March 1863 in the NFK Fraserburg.
Alice died on 23 April 1884 at home in Fraserburg. The couple had four children: Winifred Maud Mary, Ethelwyn, Guy Schreiner, and Ethelbert Theo.

JAMES FINISTER CADENHEAD
He was born on 30 November 1874 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of George Symmers CADENHEAD and Anne FINISTER.
His father was a farmer in Aberdeenshire. His parents had seven sons.
In 1881 the family lived at 87 Chapel Street, Old Machar.
In 1891, the family lived in Upper Contlaw, Peterculter.
He lived at 267 Union Grove in Aberdeen in 1893 and worked as a librarian.
In October 1898, he was the assistant librarian at the Aberdeen Public Library when he was appointed chief librarian of the libraries of Wallasey Urban District, Chester.
In 1902 he was living at Earlston Hall, Earlston Road, Cheshire, England, and was a librarian.
James arrived in the Transvaal in 1904. He was of fair complexion and had dark brown eyes and brown hair. He was 5 foot 7″.
On 15 May 1906, he arrived in Southampton from Cape Town onboard the Bremen.
On 18 April 1909, he arrived at Ellis Island, New York City, from Johannesburg. At the time, he was unmarried.
In June 1911, he arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Vancouver, Canada, onboard the Marama. He was unmarried. He gave his brother George’s address as 14 Nottar E, Vancouver.
On August 7, 1911, he left Sydney, Australia, onboard the Wilcannia, bound for Durban.
On December 6, 1912, he arrived in London from Cape Town on board the Dover Castle.
During World War I he served as a lieutenant with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, as did three of his brothers.
His exact date of death remains unknown.