2001, 2002 -- These pages are part of the Schuyler co., NY Genweb page.  Not for commercial use.
Photo not to be used without permission from Linda Z. O'Halloran.
 
 

Article about the Montour Falls Library
Watkins Express, 2001

"The library recently took the step to fulfill its mission of making its
historical resources available to the public by making this
genealogical information available on the internet."

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The building that is now the Montour Falls Memorial Library was the last of the six buildings built by Charles Cook that are now in Montour Falls' Glorious T historic district. The building was under construction in 1866 when Charles Cook suffered a stroke.  It was to be the building that housed his Bank of Havana, which at this time Cook was operating from the west corner of his "home" in the Montour House, another of his buildings.

The building was purchased by Hull Fanton after Cook's death in 1866.and Fanton operated it as his Second National Bank of Havana until 1884. Jesse C. Woodhull, a local boy who "did well", came back and purchased the building and remodeled it to serve the community as a library. The deed says he gave it to the village of Montour
Falls to be used for "library, literary and historic purposes" in 1904. The new library had a museum room in it. Thus, the library became the first repository in the county for artifacts and papers pertaining to the history of the county.

The constitution and bylaws of the library, from its start, have designated that there be several standing library committees on which the trustees and others serve. These committees have designated duties which help in the running of the library and have been given a more active role in the operation of the library in the last several years. One of the committees is the museum committee. Its duty is to supervise the acquisition, display, use and needs of the museum collection and the museum room. The museum committee has been working for several years to organize the archives the library has acquired in close to 100 years. These archives cover a wide variety of subjects and contain a wealth of information.

The main purpose of a library is to make information available to the community. While emphasizing its commitment to serve the community as a library, the Montour Falls Library's mission statement also reflects its heritage. The library's mission statement says "the mission of the library shall be to care for and make available to the public the literary, cultural, educational, technological and historical resources of the library."

Among the many archives in the library are numerous records containing genealogical information. The library recently took the step to fulfill its mission of making its historical resources available to the public by making this genealogical information available on the internet. The next library column from the Montour Falls Memorial Library will give details about this aspect of the museum committee's work for the library.