Story
The Original Central Library on Parsons Boulevard
The first library in Queens was organized in 1858 in Flushing on a subscription basis. Incorporated in 1869, it became a free circulation library in 1884. In the 1890s, several other communities started local library service - Steinway, Hollis, Queens Village, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Long Island City, and Astoria. These seven libraries formed the nucleus of the present Queens Library. Three (Long Island City, Steinway, and Astoria) were members of the Long Island City Public Library, chartered in 1896. The Queens Borough Public Library was incorporated in 1907 – Changing its name from Queens Borough Library as the City of New York transferred control of the Queens libraries to a new independent board of Trustees. Today we are known as Queens Public Library!
Colonial Hall
In 1911 the Queens Borough Public Library relocated its administrative offices from Hunters Point to Colonial Hall on Jamaica Avenue (formerly Fulton St.), an 1843 academy building on Jamaica Avenue. Public transportation and a LIRR hub had rapidly increased the population and importance of Queens, and specifically Jamaica, in the NY metro area. It served as the Central Administrative Building for Queens Public Library, as well as the Jamaica branch from 1911 to 1923 when it was torn down.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
On October 23, 1928 after years of budget struggle and growing user demands the cornerstone was laid for a new four-story Renaissance Revival Central Library on Parsons Boulevard. On April 1, 1930 the new Central Library Building on Parsons Boulevard at 89th Avenue opened to the public.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
The Main Reading Room at the Central Branch of the Queens Public Library on Parsons Boulevard.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
The Picture Collection Department in the Central Branch of the Queens Public Library on Parsons Boulevard in 1939.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
The Illustration Bindery Room at the old Central Branch of the Queens Public Library on Parsons Boulevard.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
Exhibit at the Central Branch on Parsons Boulevard in 1935 that featured a press from the 18th Century.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
The Long Island Division Stacks (Archives) at the old Central Branch of the Queens Public Library on Parsons Boulevard, December 29, 1939.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
The Cataloging Department at the Central Branch on Parsons Boulevard, January 2, 1940
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
The Education Division and teacher's resource room at the Central Branch on Parsons Boulevard in 1953.
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Queens Borough Public Library, Central Branch
An overcrowded reading room at the old Central Branch of the Queens Public Library on Parsons Boulevard, December 27, 1961
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Central Library
By the early 1960’s it was obvious that the elegant but very cramped library on Parsons Boulevard was in need of replacement, and the new Central Library on Merrick was opened in 1966. In 1970 the old library building on Parsons was adapted as Queens County Family Court, and the inscription placed there that year on the pediment still remains. The Family Court moved to a new building in 2002, and the old Parsons Building was converted to apartments, with a new building constructed behind the old façade.
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Central Library
In 2011 the Children's Library Discovery Center was completed as part of an addition to the Queens Central Library building on Merrick Boulevard. This 14,000 square foot two-story building is a state-of-the-art children's library with a focus on STEM, and the biggest urban Public Children’s Library in the United States.
\*For more about the history of Queens Public Library you can read the book “We Speak Your Language – A Picture History to Commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Central Library, Queens Public Library 1930 – 2020" by Nelson Lu, the Director of the Central Library, which was recently selected for addition to the Library of Congress’s collections.
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