Since its founding in 1929, the library has provided uninterrupted services to the residents of Aliquippa. Since 1962 it has served as one the 29 District Library Centers for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, offering leadership to the other public libraries in Beaver County.

On November 9, 1926, Mrs. Elisabeth M. Horne wrote to the Woodlawn (PA) Borough Council and offered to erect a library building to meet the needs residents, provided the Borough fund and operate it as a public library. Mrs. Horne was the daughter Benjamin Franklin Jones, Sr., one of the founders of the Jones & Laughlin (J&L) Steel Corporation, the principal employer in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania. The building was to be named in memory of her father.

The Council accepted Mrs. Horne’s offer. Mrs. Horne purchased ten parcels of land and engaged the services of the architectural firm of Bartholomew & Smith of Pittsburgh, working closely with Brandon Smith especially in the selection of the interior/exterior materials, lighting, and landscaping. Shortly thereafter the municipality’s name was changed to Aliquippa, so that when the B.F. Jones Memorial Library opened to the public on February 1, 1929, it was to serve as the public library for the citizens of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a town on the Ohio River, in Beaver County twenty miles northwest of Pittsburgh.