4200 Petrolia Line, Petrolia
Petrolia Library

During the oil boom, the need for a railway in Petrolia was desperate.  Ox-carts transporting oil barrels was a common sight on Main Street.  But the railways were not convinced that the oil supply would warrant the cost of laying track to Petrolia.  The town could wait no longer and financed a spur line from Wyoming.  The line was so successful that the Great Western Railway bought and operated it until amalgamation with the Grand Trunk Railway in 1882.

The trains backed down the track five miles, coming to an abrupt end at the back door of the station.

Canada's oil capital certainly deserved a more dignified station, than a two story frame building.  In 1903, this study in Victorian grandeur was erected, from red pressed brick and stone.  At each end of the impressive building are circular turrets capped with bellcast roofs and graceful supporting brackets.  Above the front entrance, with its fan transom stands a square tower.

A circular theme has been carried out in the interior of paneled Georgian pine, with restored Ladies and Gentlemen's waiting rooms at each end.  The glass in these rooms is unusually thick and curved to follow the walls.  The centre portion housed the general waiting room, ticket office, operators desk and a baggage room at one end.  The building served as a railway station until 1937, when the Canadian National Railway agreed to lease the vacant station for A Public Library to the town of Petrolia. (Martin Dillon, Heritage Petrolia)

The Grand Trunk Railway constructed the depot after the town built the railway. On January 23, 1923 the Grand Trunk railway amalgamated with the Canadian National Railway. The station continued to be used as a depot until railway services were discontinued in 1930. For the next seven years the depot served as a civic centre, playing hostess to dances, socials, and town meetings. The station's transformation into a library is probably the first example of railway station being preserved for an appropriate use. The C.N.R. agreed to lease the building to the town of Petrolia for an annual fee of $125.00.

On September 18, 1961, the C.N.R. sold the property to the town for $1.00. March 15, 1937 marked the opening of the new Petrolia Library.  The Lions Club sold 300 – 400 memberships for one dollar each in its first two weeks of operation. Before its establishment in the railway station, the library had a variety of homes. Churches provided library facilities for their Sunday school children. Other townspeople formed literary societies and reading groups to satisfy their literary needs. The Hospital Guild members donated books and set-up a distribution centre in 1927. Books were housed in the Union Gas office, a candy store, and later, at Mrs. Sterne’s flower shop, until their relocation to the railway station.

Today, the library stands as a monument to the extravagance and pretentiousness of the oil boom era, while providing an excellent centre for children's programs, art classes, reading and research facilities for the people of Petrolia and area. 

The Petrolia Public Library distinguishes itself as one of the most superb examples of early railway architecture. Its styling reflects the eclectic Queen Anne features which were popular during its time of construction in 1903. The structure boasts two turret rooms, the west end turret housing a ladies’ waiting room, and the east end turret a gentlemen's waiting room. They were furnished with dark leather upholstered seats that followed the curve of the walls. The rooms were originally gas lighted, but were later replaced with electric light fixtures, which still illuminate the turret rooms. The beveled glass windows, pine floorboards, and slate roof are still architectural facets of the former railway station.