East Boston Branch Library (first) opens.

It is located on the second floor of the Lyman School at 37 Meridian Street. Dedicated on March 22, 1871, it is the first free, public, branch library in the U.S. and offers access to the collections of the East Boston Library Association and the Sumner Library. It moves to the Austin School (second) on Paris Street in 1912, to Meridian Street (third) in 1914,* and to its current location (fourth) on Bremen Street in 2013.*