It’s one for the history books!
Dumbo fi nally gets a library, Brooklyn’s fi rst new branch in 40 years
BY BEN BRACHFELD
The Brooklyn Public Library
opened a new branch
for the fi rst time in nearly 40
years on Oct. 12, when honchos
and local pols cut the ribbon
at the new Adams Street
Library in Dumbo.
The new library is BPL’s
60th branch, and the fi rst new
one in the borough since the
Cortelyou Library opened
in 1983. It also marks a momentous
occasion for Dumbo,
which has never had a library
of its own until now.
Situated right on Dumbo’s
waterfront, with impeccable
views of the Manhattan
Bridge, the East River, and
the Lower East Side across
the water, the 6,500 squarefoot
library occupies the fi rst
fl oor of an old manufacturing
building at 9 Adams St., with
the rest of the building featuring
residential apartments. It
is primarily though not exclusively
a space for children’s
learning and enrichment.
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COURIER L 42 IFE, OCTOBER 15-21, 2021
and obviously during a
pandemic it was particularly
challenging,” Linda Johnson,
BPL’s CEO, told Brooklyn Paper.
“We really wanted to get
this open for the neighborhood
as soon as we could. There’s a
need here, I think it’ll be fully
used before we even know
what happens, I think it’ll become
part of people’s routine
to go to this branch.”
Johnson categorized the
view from the new location’s
15-foot windows as the “best
views in all of the city’s over
200 libraries.”
For decades, BPL hadn’t
considered Dumbo as a location
for a branch, because for
most of its history it had been
an industrial neighborhood
with few residents. But the explosive
residential growth of
the neighborhood in recent decades
forced library honchos
to consider spaces for a new
branch in the community.
“For many years, this
was an area with very, very
few residents,” said Assemblymember
Jo Anne Simon in
remarks at the library’s opening
ceremony. “But DUMBO
and Vinegar Hill have grown
like crazy, they are continuing
to grow, and we need to provide
access to libraries for all
of the children in this area.”
Development and construction
of the new library
cost $7.2 million, funded by
the city, state, and from the
controversial 2014 sale of the
Brooklyn Heights Library to
property developer Hudson
Companies, intent on building
luxury condos at the site.
Construction began early last
year, and a temporary library
annex steps away on John
Street opened in 2019 to serve
the neighborhood’s residents
until the permanent library
opened its doors. The permanent
library was scheduled to
open last year but construction
was delayed due to the
pandemic.
Previously, the residents of
Dumbo were made to schlep
either to the Brooklyn Heights
Library or to the Walt Whitman
Library in Fort Greene.
The Brooklyn Heights branch
closed for redevelopment in
2016, and was razed the following
year to make way for Hudson
Companies’ One Clinton
development, and a temporary
library is currently open at
the Center for Brooklyn History.
The new library in Brooklyn
Heights, which will occupy
the fi rst three fl oors of
One Clinton, will open in early
2022, according to BPL spokesperson
Fritzi Bodenheimer.
Library honchos and local pols cut the ribbon at the new Adams Street
Library. Photo by Ben Brachfeld
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SERVING THE COMMUNITY OF BROOKLYN FOR OVER 90 YEARS
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