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Hyde Library was originally Hyde Technical School and Free Library. The foundation stone was laid in 1897 and it opened in 1899 replacing the former Mechanics Institute. Link

In recent years the building was shared between the library and Tameside College. The library was extensively refurbished in 2006 and a new gallery installed to local artist Harry Rutherford. However in 2012 the gallery was moved to the Central Art Gallery in Ashton under Lyne.

In a first round of "council austerity cuts" the public were presented with three "choices" regarding the future of library services. Smaller local libraries were closed in the light of promised improved facilities at main libraries such as Hyde.

At the beginning of 2015 despite earlier local protests the "library services" were transferred to a few cramped rooms inside the Town Hall.

Despite its historic importance to the town it is not a listed building and as the local council view it as an "un-used asset" its future is insecure and a future sale and demolition remains a possibility. A Facebook Group, Friends of Hyde Library Link was set up to try and preserve the building as a facility for the town. In 2022 the building and surrounding land was put up for sale by tender.

See the original Victorian plans for the library on Old Hyde: Link