Library Mission Statement

The Free Public Library of Hasbrouck Heights is committed to building community connections to reading, encouraging lifelong learning, and promoting the personal and professional pursuit of enrichment for people of all ages, interests, and abilities. The Library is committed to maintaining an open, welcoming environment and upholding the public’s right of access to information. The Library will endeavor to provide quality service, support community outreach, offer professional expertise, be on the cutting edge of technologies, and offer materials in a variety of formats.

How We Started…

Located in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, the original building to house the library was never intended as a library at all. Instead, it was a clubhouse for a group of civic-minded individuals who formed the Borough League Association. This organization, though originally connected with local political affairs, soon became divorced entirely from politics and devoted itself to civic welfare.

It maintained a library, and fostered literary and social activities among its members. It was a place to borrow books and also to come and discuss them. The library numbered nearly 1,500 volumes on its shelves, and additions were made by donation of books and by purchase by the Ladies’ Committee of the League.

When the Borough League Association disbanded in 1916, the building and property were deeded to the Hasbrouck Heights Board of Education for the sum of $1 by Mr. Edward G. Black and his second wife, Emma Black, who gave the land for the building and contributed most of the funds to erect the building for the Borough League. Mr. Black also furnished it with most of its library. He deeded the building with the proviso that it be used for “educational purposes” only or the building would revert back to his heirs. Thus, in 1917, the Free Public Library of Hasbrouck Heights opened its doors.

Housed in the same building on Division Avenue since 1917, The Library moved to its current home on the Boulevard and Central Avenue and officially opened the doors to its new facility in December of 2003.