FROM THE BRIDGEPORT HISTORY CENTER: Downtown library building opened in 1925

Saturday, 24 April 2010 09:04

The main Bridgeport Public Library downtown, 925 Broad St., was designed in Classical Revival style by architects Dickson and Palmer. Bridgeport had a library as early as 1828. However it was not until 1881 that a municipal library was organized.

Catherine Burroughs Pettengill, who inherited money from the shipping fortune of her father, Capt. Isaac Burroughs, gave the library a building on Main Street and John streets. Calling it the Burroughs Public Library in honor of her father, the building remained as the library's home until 1925, when the new Burroughs Public Library was built at the corner of Broad and State streets.

Renamed the Burroughs-Saden Library after the late Judge George Saden, the building remains as the main branch along with four library branches located throughout the city.

(Text provided by Mary K. Witkowski, who is head of the Bridgeport Public Library’s Bridgeport History Center and city historian)

Go to this Web site's "History" section to see other items on Bridgeport's history.