History:
Before the Bronxville Public Library was officially chartered in June 1906, Villagers had enjoyed the use of a lending library for thirty-one years. The embryonic library was housed in a small room that had been added in 1875 to the Bronxville Model School in the center of town. A group of residents petitioned the school board to open the reading room one or two nights a week and the men of the village volunteered their service once a month. A box was placed in the railroad station for book donations. Over the years about 2,500 volumes were collected.
In 1906 the contents of the old lending library were moved into two rooms in the newly erected Village Hall building at the corner of Pondfield Road and Kraft Avenue. The imposing classical structure, designed by William W. Bates and W. W. Kent, housed not only the Village offices and library, but also the police station, post office, firehouse, a large auditorium, gymnasium, a bowling alley, and swimming pool.
Support for the new Library grew rapidly. A Women’s Auxiliary (a precursor to today’s Library Friends) was formed for the purpose of awakening interest in the Library and to raise funds for purchasing books. As a result of these efforts, hundreds of books were added to the collection; circulation increased dramatically and, by 1913, Village Hall had to be renovated and the Library space greatly expanded. It was in the same year that local artist George Henry Smillie reflected: “I hope we shall see at no very distant day a beautiful combined library and art gallery located here” – a dream that would be realized some thirty years later.
