Borough Park Library began life in 1904 as a small collection in the Edgewood Reformed Chapel, a small church near 54th Street and 14th Avenue. By 1907, when the collection became an official BPL branch, more than 60% of Borough Park’s population was foreign-born or first-generation American, with many Germans, Italians, Jews, Poles and Russians residing in the neighborhood. The busy branch was moved to 13th Avenue in 1926, but soon outgrew this new space. On November 28, 1955, the present-day branch opened on 43rd Street with a collection of 53,000 books, nearly double the holdings of the former location.
