Oswego City Library is a historic

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

building located at Oswego in

Oswego County, New York Oswego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,525. The county seat is Oswego. The county name is from a Mohawk-language word meaning "the pouring out place", referring to the point at ...

. It has also been known as the Oswego School District Public Library. It was built in about 1855 and is a two-story brick structure over a full basement. It features a distinctive

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

style with exterior battlements, machicolations, tower, turrets, corbels, and arcaded windows. It was a gift from

Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidat ...

, who gave $25,000 for the building construction and $5,000 for books. The library is credited for being the oldest public library in the United States that maintains operations out of its original building. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971.

History

After a fire destroyed part of the library's building in 1853, politician and abolitionist Gerrit Smith gathered people to serve as Trustees to contribute to the maintenance of a new library which would value the welcoming of people of all backgrounds. Smith stipulated that the library be located on the east side of the Oswego River, hence in the part of the city where he owned other properties, and also that "privileges and benefits of the library shall be always as acceptable to the one sex as the other, and that no person on account of their race, complexion or condition, shall be shut out of the privileges and benefits, or in any degree curtailed of them." Include three historic photos and nine photos from 2003. () Upon opening to the public in 1857, the Oswego Public Library held approximately 8,000 volumes of works. The City of Oswego and the Oswego School System provided financial contributions to sustain the library in its infancy. It is documented in early records that numerous black residents of Oswego, including Tudor E. Grant and his family, did indeed borrow books out of the library. The library became part of an independent library district in 1999. It was measured and documented by the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

in 1966.

References

External links

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Oswego Public Library
Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) Library buildings completed in 1855 Buildings and structures in Oswego County, New York Public libraries in New York (state) Oswego, New York National Register of Historic Places in Oswego County, New York Recipients of aid from Gerrit Smith {{OswegoCountyNY-NRHP-stub