[8][9] The Carnegie branch had been under construction in 1904 when it was described in a Free Press article as "most pretentious of our civic buildings…There are not many buildings with an all-[lime]stone exterior.

"[10] The Library was officially opened on October 12, 1905, by Lady Evelyn, Earl Grey, daughter of the Governor General of Canada.

In 2013 while the roof was being repaired, a hole had let water seep inside the building from a heavy rainstorm, damaging a portion of the archive.

[12] Two potential sites had been considered for a new River Heights branch, budgeted at $70,000,[13] in May 1958, serving the new and growing subdivision of Winnipeg.

The city's Library Committee had preferred the Corydon at Ash St. location next to a football field or by purchasing a property worth $15,000 on Corydon at Niagara, while the Recreation Committee preferred it on Haskins (now Grosvenor) Avenue, next to River Heights School.

[14] A large delegation appeared before the city's Recreation Committee on June 18, 1958, opposing putting the River Heights Library at the corner of Corydon and Ash.

[15] The next day the Recreation Committee, due to public pressure from the Community Club, voted against the Corydon at Ash site.

[18] In July 1968 the City of Winnipeg purchased a new bookmobile for $10,000, because the library committee had stated that the current vehicle was so dilapidated that it might not last until the end of the year.

Later on the final decision was made to locate the new River Heights branch at the corner of Nathaniel and Grant Avenue and to name it the Bill and Helen Norrie Library.