From the start the library proved very popular despite the fact that the library's initial collection of around 6,000 books were entirely in English. This success caused the OIAA to accelerate plans for further libraries in the region. The Biblioteca Americana de Nicaragua in Managua opened in October 1942 and the Biblioteca Artigas-Washington opened in Montevideo in 1943. The contract between the Department of State and the ALA for these three libraries was terminated at the end of 1946, handing sole control of the libraries to the U.S. Government. Three more branches of the Ben Franklin library were established in Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Puebla. In 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Guadalajara branch library was set on fire during a student demonstration.