Germantown Avenue began as an Indian footpath through the woods used as a road by settlers. In 1865, Thomas Lovett purchased more than ten acres along the avenue as a family estate. Mount Airy Free Library was founded twenty years later by a trio (one of whom was Miss Louisa Lovett) in a rented room at a lumberyard, where 7153-55 Germantown Avenue now stands. Another of the trio, Mrs. Sheldon Potter, acted as volunteer librarian. She had a small circulating library at her home for neighborhood boys, hoping to raise their standard of reading materials from the "dime novels" that were all they could afford for themselves.

In 1887, Charlotte Lovett Bostwick built and endowed the library as a memorial to her brother, Thomas R. Lovett. This portion now serves as a meeting room. Lovett Library became a branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1924. A new addition was opened in 1961, and in 1982 the Friends of Lovett Library started.

The library was renovated in 1999 as part of the "Changing Lives" campaign. In 2004, the Lovett Memorial Reading Garden was dedicated.