Brooklyn Apprentices' Library

[2] The organization was founded with the purpose of aiding youths "in becoming useful and respectable members of society.

"[3] They adopted a charter and began to collect books, funds, and other resources to achieve that aim.

[4] A building site for the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library was found at the intersection of Cranberry and Henry Streets in Brooklyn Heights, and the cornerstone for the library was placed by General Lafayette on Independence Day 1825.

[4] This event was witnessed by a six year old Walt Whitman who six decades later wrote about his memory of seeing Lafayette place the cornerstone.

[5] Whitman would later work as a librarian at the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library.