Back in the 1970's, after having moved to Virginia, I worked with a colleague who happened to be the seventh generation direct descendant of George Washington's brother, Bushrod Corbin Washington (BCW). As a matter of fact, he was named BCW the seventh. He hated the name Bushrod and went by his middle name, Corbin, and vowed if he ever had a son that he wouldn't name him the VIII. Anyway, I remember telling him I didn't think the name Bushrod was so bad and I mentioned there was a library in Philly named Bushrod. I don't think he was impressed with that however and still went by his middle name. The Bushrod Library has a place in Philadelphia history: it was the first newly constructed branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia since the Central Library was built in 1927. It opened in 1950. Are there any blog readers who saw the library being built or were there the day it opened? For me, Bushrod is one of the key landmarks of Oxford Circle. It was where I got my first library card, sometime in the late fifties. I remember the library had two stories: one I believe was for children, the other for adults. Does anyone have any specific memories of the library back then? I understand that the library has undergone a major renovation, so I'm not sure what it is like today.
