Pittsford Community Library 100th Anniversary!
We're celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Pittsford Community Library, chartered in 1924. Throughout the coming year we'll be updating this page with facts, history, photos and information.
Pittsford Library Timeline 1803-2015
Pittsford Library First Directors
Pittsford’s Library: A Storied Past
by Pittsford Town and Village Historian Vicki Masters Profitt
The story of Pittsford’s libraries goes back to 1803, when the Northfield Library was organized in a house built by Major Ezra Patterson on today’s Mendon Center Road. An historic marker on the grounds of Mendon Center Elementary School indicates the place where the earliest residents of our community first gathered to learn and to share their knowledge.
Major Patterson, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, served as the first librarian and treasurer. The library collection included 70 books. Subscribers who returned their books late received a one shilling penalty the first hour and six cents for every hour after that until the books were returned. Even then, books were valued and appreciated, especially in a young community in which it was difficult to purchase new titles.
The Northfield Library closed its doors about 1809 for reasons unknown. In the years that followed, many attempts were made to reinstate a library in the community. In 1834, the Pittsford Social Library was formed, but there is very little information about that or the other iterations that occurred in 1852, 1882, 1884 and 1890.
It was not until 1920 that the Pittsford Community Library (PCL) was formed by Una Hutchinson and Margaret Becker Malone with 50 books borrowed from the Library Extension Division of New York State. These books were stored on two shelves of George and Ellena Thomas’ grocery store at 1 South Main Street. The Library was open for two hours on Saturday afternoons and proved so successful that it soon moved to rooms over the Crump store across the street at 1 North Main Street. There it remained for the next few years.
In 1924, the Library was chartered to the Village of Pittsford and moved to new quarters in the building now known as the Little House. The Little House, 18 Monroe Avenue, sits on the north side of the street just beside Pittsford Fire Department Station 1. However, the historic Little House building, which was constructed about 1819, used to sit across the street at 17 Monroe Avenue. It held this place for 144 years before its move across the street in 1963. It was here that the Library made its home, on the south side of the Monroe Avenue, from 1924-1937.
These were the years in which the Library’s collection grew by leaps and bounds. By 1932, the Library boasted nearly 6,000 books in its collection and had a total circulation of 31,000. As the collection grew, so grew the need for additional space to house it. The Little House just wasn’t big enough to contain it any longer.
In 1937, Mary Wiltsie Field purchased 21 North Main Street and donated it to the Village to be used as a library and community center in honor of her father. The Charles Hastings Wiltsie Memorial Building was dedicated on December 30, 1937. It opened to the public the following day.
In the early years at its 21 North Main Street location, the Library was open four days a week from 3:00-5:00pm and 7:00-9:00pm. Those hours expanded as additional books were added to the collection and the number of Pittsford residents hungry for knowledge increased. When the Pittsford Community Library joined the newly-organized Monroe County Library System (MCLS) in 1959, circulation increased 80%, thanks to the enhanced services made available through the MCLS.
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Margaret Hutchinson Lusk served as Librarian from 1929-1959. At her retirement, Margaret was succeeded by Marian Butler. Under Marian’s watch, Friends of the Pittsford Community Library was formed and book reviews were instituted. The first reviewer was David Edwards, Pittsford High School English Department faculty member, who discussed Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter. The newly-inaugurated reviews were presented as a result of numerous requests from Pittsford residents who paid 50 cents to attend the review session.
The Library remained at 21 North Main Street until 1973, when it moved to its current location at 24 State Street. At the time of the move, the Library took over the former Star Market building which had been designed by Rochester’s first black architect, Thomas W. Boyde, Jr. The same year, the NYS Board of Regents conducted an inspection of the Library and found that the Library met both the Regents and NYS Education Department requirements. The Library was rechartered from the Village of Pittsford to Town of Pittsford jurisdiction. By this time, the Library was comprised of 39,455 items in its collection, with a circulation of 255,000 items borrowed.
By 2003, the PCL was once again in need of additional space. The one-story building at 24 State Street was demolished to make way for a new two-story, 32,000 square foot building. The Pittsford Community Library opened in its new building on September 17, 2005.
Over the years, the Pittsford Community Library has served our Town and Village as a fount of knowledge and as a gathering place for Pittsford residents. We are excited to see what the next 100 years will bring!
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