Cortelyou Library

The story

One of the first libraries in New York City to display books in a merchandising format, Cortelyou arrived only after Flatbush residents spent fourteen years advocating for it — pushing from 1969 until the branch finally opened in 1983. Decades later, after a pandemic closure, the Friends of Cortelyou Library led a six-month remodel that brought it back in late 2021. That sustained community effort, twice over, is what the library is really made of.