The Pipersville Library is housed in a building that has been designated a Historic Place by the Bucks County Conservancy. The building was originally constructed in 1886 as a one-room chapel. It was a nondenominational Sunday School, and classes were cordoned off by curtains that hung from rods running the width of the building. The rods are still there today, as is the bell tower, although the bell is no longer rung.
By the mid-1900s, the chapel had closed and the building was no longer used as a Sunday School. The Pipersville community had no local library. Instead, it was served by the county’s bookmobile, which visited weekly. In 1966, a group of local women decided that the building would be perfect for a library. The land and building were donated to the group by the Brumbaugh family.
The original wooden shelves to hold the books were built by the group (and their husbands), and the Chapel Library opened as a reading room. There was no running water, and the bathroom was a wooden outhouse behind the building. The reading room eventually became a full-fledged library, joining the Bucks County Free Library system, although it retained its own patron card system.
The Pipersville Free Library is one of the county’s community libraries. PFL raises the funds to cover all of its operating expenses and book purchases through several annual events and the generous donations of the community. All staff is volunteer.
In 2013, the library officially retired its patron cards and went online.