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Bushrod Branch

Item Info

Item No: pdcf00056
Title: Bushrod Branch
Additional Title: Reading Hour in the Bushrod Branch, ca. 1955
Historic Street Address: 6304 Castor Avenue
Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:

The Bushrod Branch opened on October 25, 1950. It was the first newly-constructed branch in the Free Library system since the completion of the Central Library in 1927. It was named for Philadelphia eye surgeon and humanitarian Dr. Bushrod Washington James, whose will provided for the founding of a library near Logan Square in 1903. In 1948, the Free Library received permission to transfer Dr. James's endowment to the present location in Northeast Philadelphia.

This ca. 1955 photograph shows Reading Hour in the Bushrod Room, a room devoted to children's programming (in accordance with Dr. James's bequest). The portraits on the wall are of members of the Bushrod family, painted in 1832 by Germantown-born artist Robert Street.

The Bushrod Branch serves the communities of Oxford Circle, Castor Gardens, Upper Northwood, Summerdale, and the Lower Northeast.


Creation Year: ca. 1955
Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-75.078607
Geocode Latitude:40.038646