The first American public library opened at a schoolhouse on Mason Street in Boston at 9:00 in the morning on March 20, 1854. The library stayed open until 9:30 that night, serving eighty visitors throughout the day. By the end of the year, there were 6,590 registered library users who frequented the library. In 1870 a second branch opened, and the Boston Public Library (BPL) became the first American branch library system.
