File:Mechanic's Institute Hall-Alexandra Arcade, 1890s (14185065632).jpg

English: Mechanics Institutes began in England as a way to educate the working classes. The Hamilton & Gore Mechanics’ Institute was organized in 1839. It was incorporated in 1849 and began planning for their own building which opened in 1853 on James Street North just north of the City Hall. It had been constructed at a cost of £4,000 and was quite an impressive building. It contained a hall large enough to hold 1,000 people and was the main theatre in Hamilton until the building of the Grand Opera House. They specialized in books on science and technology and were careful that the library would not “degenerate into mere reading rooms for the reception of the sensational literature of the day”. However since that was what the public seemed to want by 1881 35% of their collection was fiction. The next year, when they could not raise the funds to operate they closed. The next time a library was opened for the use of the public was when the Hamilton Public Library opened its first Main Library in 1890.

The Alexandra Arcade was opened in the old Mechanics’ Institute building.
In 1911 the Alexandra Arcade was purchased with the intention of turning it into a department store. By 1915 they had expanded into the building to the north which had been the Hotel Cecil and then the very short-lived Griffin Theatre. The Arcade had so many plate glass windows that it was known as a “daylight shopping palace.” It continued as one of Hamilton’s pre-eminent department stores until it was bought out by the T. Eaton Company in 1927.

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