Brooklyn Public Library presents “Building Brooklyn,” an audio journey about three neighborhoods that made Brooklyn the vibrant, diverse borough it is today. This miniseries is an off-shoot of BPL’s flagship podcast, Borrowed, and is co-hosted by two BPL librarians. Drawing from our own oral history collections, as well as new interviews with Brooklynites, it will tell some of Brooklyn’s most unique and overlooked stories.

The first episode of this series features the neighborhood surrounding the Pacific Library and is about the Lenape heritage of this area and the Mohawk ironworking community that established itself in North Gowanus (today Downtown Brooklyn) in the middle of the 20th century. The descendents of those ironworking families have such a strong connection to the neighborhood that for many present-day members of the Mohawk Kahnawake Territory in Quebec, Brooklyn is a bit of a mythical place.

Visit Pacific Library during open hours (10am to 5pm) to check out books related to the episode from a special OHNY book display, and then take a self-guided walk in the neighborhood while you listen to the podcast – or listen from home!

This event is offered during OHNY Weekend as a part of Radical Knowledge: Libraries as Community Catalysts, an ongoing program examining how libraries serve as both vibrant learning institutions and centers for their communities, providing physical and virtual spaces to enrich civic life, expand economic opportunity, and improve the quality of place and quality of life for New Yorkers.