On December 20, 1903, the Bona Thompson library was given to Butler College by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Thompson in memory of their late daughter. Butler College immediately entered into an agreement with the Board of School Commissioners for the Thompson Library to become a branch of the Public Library.

In 1914 the Irvington Branch relocated to a rented store room; in September, 1921, it moved into a small, two-story house located at 5427 East Washington Street. Library staff pioneered the first pre-school story hour in 1951. When a new facility was built in 1956 on the same site, a request was made to the Library Board that it be named in honor of Irvington’s distinguished citizen, Hilton U. Brown, editor of the Indianapolis News and vice president of Indianapolis Newspapers Inc.