BROCKWAY MEMORIAL LIBRARY

Brockway Memorial Library was built in 1948 with a gift of $50,000 from George A. Brockway, a philanthropist and manufacturer of trucks from Cortland, New York. The land on which it sits was donated by Bessemer Properties, the company that led the effort to incorporate Miami Shores Village in 1932 under the direction of Roy H. Hawkins. Designed by architect Edwin T. Reeder and built by C.F. Wheeler, the building reflects the modern tropical Florida style of this era. Notable exterior elements include a limestone, coral, and brick façade with a long, low horizontal roofline. The library’s interior, designed by Haygood Lasseter, features a great room with high, exposed beamed ceilings, wood-paneled alcoves and three fireplaces with coral surround. Lasseter also decorated Harry Truman’s Little White House in Key West. Brockway Memorial Library opened in 1949, headed by librarian Helen O’Connell Borsch. Local residents and civic organizations donated the initial collection of 4,182 volumes. It operated under the guidance of a Board of Trustees: Edna Brockway, Ruth Reeder, Elsiemae Lasseter, Zoella Walker, and C.F. Wheeler. Brockway Memorial Library was locally designated as an historic landmark in 2023.