Opening the Pocket Doors: Humble Beginnings at the Hamilton

When the Long Island Historical Society was founded in 1863, its founding members had grand ideas to house a library and host lectures but did not yet have their own building. The society’s permanent residence did not begin construction until 1878, eventually being completed in 1881.  

So where was the Long Island Historical Society for the first 18 years of its existence? The society rented several rooms in the Hamilton Building, located on the corner of Court and Joralemon Streets. The Hamilton Building was first constructed sometime in the mid 19th century for Abiel Abbot Low, who was a wealthy New York entrepreneur and merchant who owned several buildings and operated a fleet of ships involved in the China trade. Low was also a member of the original board of the Long Island Historical Society. As seen in this photograph, LIHS was able to utilize several of their rented rooms for their growing library. They also housed their collection of artifacts and curiosities, as can be seen here in this blog post about the institution’s exhibit history.

The founding members of LIHS quickly realized that they were already outgrowing their space and would need to invest in a permanent structure. They soon purchased a plot of land in 1867 at the corner of Pierrepont and Clinton Streets, which would inevitably become 128 Pierrepont and the permanent home of the institution. Interestingly enough, it was during the planning for this building that caused Low, who had provided the original housing for LIHS, to step down from the board, as he did not agree with spending the money to add a lecture hall to the new building.  

The Hamilton Building only lasted a few more years, since it was then demolished and replaced by the Temple Bar Building, which was designed by George L. Morse and completed construction in 1901. At one point Brooklyn’s tallest building, the Temple Bar Building still exists and can be seen today if you visit that same corner on Court and Joralemon Streets.  

The Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Archive Project is generously funded by the Leon Levy Foundation. 

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.