A Library for Children — the Stone Avenue Branch.

The Stone Avenue Library Branch has stood at 581 Mother Gaston Boulevard for 100 years, and has recently celebrated that fact with a renovation and re-opening party. Of course, the street wasn’t called Mother Gaston when the branch was built — that came later, after local activist Rosetta “Mother” Gaston opened the Heritage House as an education and community center in this very library.  Another name change worth noting is that of the branch itself. Now known as the Stone Avenue Library, it first opened its doors in 1914 as the Brownsville Children’s Library — reportedly the first library in the world to cater specifically and exclusively to children.

Children wait patiently outside the Brownsville Children’s Library, c. 1930

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