Library History
History of Stamford Library
On October 22, 2007, the Stamford Village Library celebrated its Centennial. If you’re thinking, “Wait a minute . . . I seem to remember hearing something about this a long time ago,” you’re right, the library recognized a 100th anniversary in June of 1972. Two other dates qualify as centennials also—2026 and 2046. How can this be?
“Dr. Churchill Memorial” is carved in stone over the entrance, so the library must have been founded by the man who did so much to encourage the tourist industry in Stamford, Dr. Stephen Churchill, right? Well, no . . . and yes. The Stamford Village Library has numerous ancestors in terms of buildings, organizational entities, and human founders. It’s those human founders we celebrate, for although they were separated by decades, they shared a great idea and common goal: the people of this community should have a library.
Dr. Churchill was, in effect, the recipient of the first library in Stamford. In 1871, Stephen Churchill was not yet a doctor; he was the principal and owner of the Stamford Seminary, a boarding school on Main Street. Samuel Judson, a local merchant and uncle of E. Z. C. Judson (author Ned Buntline), left $1,500 to be matched by the Stamford community to create a library for the Stamford Seminary. The private ownership of the Seminary proved to be a problem in receiving this legacy, so the Judson Circulating Library Association was formed. The matching funds were raised, with difficulty, by a committee that included E. Z. C. Judson, and the library, located in the Stamford Seminary, was opened on June 28, 1872. Annual membership was $2 for an individual, $3 for a family. The Judson library was soon moved to another location at the west end of Main Street, and then later, back into the Stamford Seminary, which had been relocated to Academy Street.
In October 1907, the Women’s Village Improvement Association elected trustees for a new library association: Mrs. C. Becker, Mrs. E. C. Hanford, Mrs. E. W. Gallup, Mrs. A. W. Terry, Mrs. Wm. Beckly, Mrs. C. L. Andrus, Miss Campbell, Miss Nathan, and Miss Hodge. This new Stamford Village Library was one of the first incorporated under a state law allowing the establishment of a second library in a town where a school library already existed. The new library started with $100 pledged by the Women’s Village Improvement Association, $100 from the state, and $200 in other donations. This Stamford Village Library was located at what is now 132 West Main Street, the building west of the Peachtree. A fifty-cent fee entitled one to membership in both the Women’s Village Improvement Association and the new library association.
In 1914, the Stamford Village Library moved to the corner of Main and Roosevelt. A report dated July 1, 1914 showed a total of 2,395 volumes owned and 8,127 volumes loaned during the year.
In 1917, Dr. Churchill left $25,000 to build a library and gymnasium on his property for the use of the Stamford Seminary and Union Free School, in the event that the project, for which he had already commissioned plans, was not completed in his lifetime. He also directed that the building be used for “historical and civic purposes.” Dr. Churchill’s will stated that “said building be kept and used by said district, and maintained in a proper and suitable manner for the uses and purposes aforesaid” or the property would revert to “my residuary estate.”
In 1924, construction began on the new library/gymnasium building. An appropriation from the Stamford Seminary and Union Free School District increased the funds available for this project and a $45,000 building was erected. In the current location of the librarians’ desks, there was a broad staircase leading down into the gymnasium; doors on either side of the stairs opened onto a balcony overlooking the gym. Those stairs were later removed.
In 1926, the new building opened under a new operating association, the Stamford Public Library, formed because the school board had voted to open it to the public. The subheading of a newspaper account of October 6, 1926 states that “Rare Volumes in Col. Judson Library Included.” The clipping is incomplete, so it is impossible to know if the author was incorrect in referring to volumes from the Judson Circulating Library, or, if by 1926, the public in general had begun to associate the library with the wrong Judson, due to Buntline’s notoriety, or if, in fact, volumes from Buntline’s personal library had been incorporated into the school library bequeathed by his uncle to the Stamford Seminary.
In 1946, the Village Library moved from its quarters on Main and Roosevelt into the Churchill Memorial building. If that had not happened, Stamford would have had three libraries, because the State Department of Education required the new Central School to have a library on the premises, and Dr. Churchill’s will required that a library be maintained in the Churchill Memorial building.
So this library is all of those libraries.
In 1961 and 1962, renovations costing about $120,000, mostly donated by Fred Murphy, added wings and brought the lawn up to street grade. The west wing was fitted out as a music room with a large selection of records and listening equipment. In addition to classical music, spoken word recordings of plays and poetry were available. These recordings had to stay in the music room. A collection of circulating recordings was added in 1964.
In 1963, the Historical room was opened for research, making available genealogies, photographs, the Eugene Bouton papers, and back issues of the Bloomville Mirror and Stamford Mirror-Recorder. An ongoing project at the library is the identification of photographs and scanning of archives to make the historical collection available online.
A very generous bequest from the estate of Maud Baird in 2003 continues the pattern of support that has provided for Stamford’s libraries since 1872—endowments by farsighted individuals to ensure the future in conjunction with the day-to-day encouragement and support of an interested and involved community.
Thank you all.
