The Nottingham Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1837 in Nottingham to improve the knowledge of working men with classes and lectures, the provision of libraries, performances of music, drama and readings, and through social contact with a good cross-section of the better educated members of the community with the aim TO PROMOTE THE BENEFIT OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITY OF NOTTINGHAM AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AREAS THEREOF BY THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND THE PROVISION,

[citation needed] In October 1837 a meeting was held in the Town Hall at Weekday Cross[1] at which 490 supporters put their names towards the scheme.

[citation needed] Charles Dickens appeared at the Mechanics' Institute on 21 October 1858 and read his Christmas Carol.

[citation needed] In 1912 the adjacent Mansfield Road Baptist Church was purchased and converted into a lecture hall.

At the opening in April 1966 the Mechanics was described thus: "It has survived because it has adapted itself to changing circumstances in this modern age and has at the same time preserved all the best traditions of the past".