Indianapolis Public Library (Glendale Branch) (Indianapolis, Indiana)

 library, 2023_construction

www.indypl.org/locations/glendale

The first public library branch to serve the Broad Ripple area opened its doors on December 15, 1930, in a storefront building on E. 63rd St. Eight years later, the library relocated to the first floor of the Masonic Lodge Building on what is now Guilford Ave. The first building constructed as a library for Broad Ripple opened on March 28, 1949, adjacent to School Number 80, just south of the Masonic Lodge. This new facility served area residents until the early 1980s when an expansion became necessary. A new 11,500 square-foot branch library opened on a two-acre tract of land in Broad Ripple Park on March 22, 1986.

The Broad Ripple Library again faced the need to grow but with no feasible way of expanding on its two-acre tract. Kite Development Corp. approached library officials with a lease proposal offering over 33,000 square feet of space to the library as an anchor in the redevelopment of nearby Glendale Mall. After careful consideration of what the facility could offer in terms of expanded programming, book and media collections, technology, meeting rooms, study space, and parking, the library board accepted the proposal, opening the Glendale Branch on October 23, 2000, the first full-service library in a major shopping mall in the U.S.

In March 2024, a new standalone Glendale Branch opened on the site of the former John Strange Elementary School property.