[1] Established in 1964, it was named after the Mayor of North Sydney from 1937 to 1939, James Street Stanton, who was a supporter of the Free Library Movement.

Her paper, Keep Stanton Free’ is ‘a story of a principle that became civic right, one man’s relentless opposition to the North Sydney Library service, political manoeuvres, a local government election and referendum and the efforts, sometimes open, sometimes covert, of a group of concerned citizens and librarians to ensure that public libraries remained free’.

[6] In November 1943, three months after Stanton's death, North Sydney Council voted to create a library, with planning starting in 1945 on the "Stanton Memorial Library" as a part of a broader "Civic Centre" planned for the site on Miller Street bounded by Maclaren and Ridge streets at an estimated cost of £20,000.

[7][8][9] However, various delays including land acquisition issues meant that the "Civic Centre" plans never came to be fully realised, and the Stanton Library was not opened until 8 February 1964, when Governor Sir Eric Woodward performed the honours.

In 1987, mayor Ted Mack commissioned construction on alterations and additions to the 1964 library, designed by Feiko Bouman, which were completed in 1988.