Free Library and Reading Room (left) and German Medical Dispensary (right) in New York City

Free Library and Reading Room (left) and German Medical Dispensary (right) in New York City

The Freie Bibliothek u. Lesehalle [Free Library and Reading Room] (left) and Deutsches Dispensary [German Medical Dispensary] (right) in New York City. Oswald Ottendorfer provided a gift to establish the public free library, the first in New York City, on Second Avenue in the Kleindeutschland neighborhood of Manhattan. Today, the structure houses the Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library. The dispensary is privately owned.