HUMBLE BEGINNINGS 1933-1940
The Fair Lawn Library started out as a one-room private library
attached to the office of dentist, Dr. Maurice M. Pine. With an initial collection of 300 books, 200 loaned from
the State Library, and staffed by volunteers, the library opened in February, 1933.
The Borough Council provided the library with a room on the
second floor of the Municipal Building in 1934. Unfortunately, the country was in the depths of the Depression and the
library's future was uncertain. Dr. Pine contacted the state Library Commission and the library became a WPA project
and provided with a full-time librarian.
1940-1960
Although by 1942, the library now occupied three rooms on
the first floor of the Municipal Building it was still a private library. After losing WPA status, Fair Lawn voters
passed a referendum in 1944 supporting a public library which assured the library's future and guaranteeing funding.
After a brief residence in a rented storefront at 13-36 River
Rd. the library moved to a borough-owned building, now fondly known as the Old Library Theater (demolished in 2006), in 1951.
The bookmobile was purchased in 1957 to provide services to patrons unable to get to the building, remember few people had
one car much less two at this time.
A NEW LIBRARY 1960-
Housing over 47,000 books by 1960, the library had outgrown
the small building on River Rd. The Town Council granted $750,000 in 1965 for a new building. On February 14,
1967, the Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library opened on the corner of Fair Lawn Ave. and Parmelee Ave.
The new building has five split levels, an art gallery and
a meeting room. At the time it opened in 1967,microfilm and microfiche, and offering LPs for circulation
and lending cassette players were state of the art. The library belonged to the North Bergen County Federation of Public
Libraries provided services from 13 member libraries.
Today, patrons can borrow CDs, DVDs, books on CD, access
thousands of periodicals and newspapers from several online databases and the Bergen county Cooperative Library
System (BCCLS) allows reciprocal borrowing from over 75 libraries in 3 counties.
