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History of the Library

The Hudson’s Hope Library beginnings go back to the early 1900’s.  Charlie and Madge Jones formed the first library.  This library was at their home in the Carbon Creek area.  The Jones’ collected books that had been discarded by the Vancouver Public Library.

“The Book Guy,” Mr. Howard Overand, the librarian for the Public Library Commission in Dawson Creek, delivered books in the famous bookmobile.  His territory took him through the Peace River area and up the Alaska Highway.

The bookmobile came to an end in 1966.  This is when Hudson’s Hope formed a Library Association and incorporated the library.

Over the years the library has been housed in many locations, which include private homes, the town museum, the school and even an old Red Cross outpost hospital.

Today the library is located at 9905 Dudley Drive, overlooking the mighty Peace River.  This has been its home since 1976 and it has had two additions, the area that houses the current Children’s Library in 1986 and in 1994 we added the Reading Room.  The log structure built to house the library is both a tribute to the pioneer days and to the natural surroundings in Hudson’s Hope.

The library is a  modern facility and houses a diverse collection of over 16,000 books, reference materials, DVDs, magazines and children’s literature.

In November of 2021 the library celebrated 55 years of helping educate people as a Public Library.