About the Connolly Branch

Special Features

• The Connolly Branch features Jacobean-style limestone architecture.
• The plaster moldings that decorate the ceilings are believed to have been inspired by the Rufford Abbey Library in England.

History

• Library services were first provided to Jamaica Plain’s Hyde Square in 1897 with the placement of a small book deposit in the rear of a neighborhood pharmacy at the corner of Lamartine and Paul Gore Streets.
• In 1905 the Boylston Station Reading Room opened, named for Boylston Railroad Station.
• The present branch location opened in 1932, designed by architects at Maginnis and Walsh.
• On December 12, 1940, the branch was renamed for Monsignor Arthur T. Connolly, a member of the Boston Public Library Board of Trustees and pastor of the neighboring Blessed Sacrament Church.

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