By Donna Thompson
HERKIMER – The Frank J. Basloe Library in Herkimer is marking a milestone anniversary – its 130th – this fall and the public is invited to come and help celebrate.
The library will host an open house from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 – the precise date when Herkimer’s library was first chartered back in 1895 after Judge Robert Earl donated his house at 215 N. Main St., along with books and furnishings to serve as what was originally called the Herkimer Free Library.
“We want to celebrate with the community we’ve been part of for a long time,” said Library Director Christine Fleischer.
A few people will be invited to speak, she said. There will also be music from the 1890s to the 21st century performed by Geoff Clough and local musician Paul Whitney, as well as light refreshments and in-house children’s activities.
In honor of the occasion, during October and November, the library is offering special commemorative library cards for a donation. The cards will be ordered, Fleischer said, and can be used in any Mid-York Library, just as the regular cards can.
Earlier this year, the library sold T-shirts bearing its logo as part of the anniversary year celebration and still has a few of the shirts available for sale.
In addition to celebrating its 130th anniversary, the library is working to raise funds for a new children’s room and that effort received a boost of approximately $19,000 through funds donated during the recent Mohawk Valley Gives campaign.
“I was thrilled with the community support,” said Fleischer.
The New York State Division of Library Development has awarded Basloe Library a grant for the approximately $200,000 project, but the local library is required to raise a portion of the funds needed.
The project would move the children’s room from the rear of the building to the North Main Street side of the library. The reconfigured space will be walled off with large windows, providing easy visibility.
“Parents have been asking for it,” Fleischer said. The children’s room is currently out of sight of the main portion of the library, making it difficult for parents to keep an eye on their children and make use of the library’s computers and other resources at the same time.
“We’re in the final design phase with the architect,” she said.
Plans call for the genealogy room to be moved to the present children’s area, along with space for quiet study. There are also plans to provide a teen corner and give the Washburn Room a facelift.
Previous grants have enabled the library to make improvements that included adding windows to the North Main Street side of the building and installing a restroom compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
These are among the many changes that have taken place over the years. The library still has plenty of books for all ages in its collection and access to those from other libraries in the Mid-York Library System, but “We’re so much more than just books,” Fleischer is quick to point out.
The library offers free wi-fi access, has 10 public computers available, and free public programs, such as recent ones about the Erie Canal and beekeeping. The library is a place where people can find free hats and mittens during the winter months or come to make a photocopy or send or receive a fax, she said. In addition to offering space for individual study, a study room has also been used for private meetings, including telehealth visits with doctors and meetings with attorneys.
During the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “We were here passing out DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and voter registration forms.”
The Herkimer Free Library was initially chartered as an association library, and local businessmen joined Earl in spearheading the effort to raise funds to convert the house into a free library for the community. It was re-chartered as a village library in 1969 and, because it was outgrowing its facility, began looking for a new home. In cooperation with the village, the library bought the former Acme Supermarket building at 145 N. Main St. The library raised $155,000 of the $157,000 needed for the project.
The new facility opened in 1974 with a new name – the Frank J. Basloe Library. Basloe’s children were major contributors to the project. The library’s Washburn Room was dedicated in honor of the Washburn Memorial Corporation, which was another major contributor.
Fleischer said she has heard that when the move was made, residents lined up and passed books hand-to-hand from the old building to the new one, but she has never found a photograph or other material to document this story.
In 2013, the library was re-chartered as a school district library and serves the same geographic area as the Herkimer School District after voters approved the proposal. Funding for library operations now comes from a tax approved by school district voters and collected by the Herkimer Central School District, but the village of Herkimer owns the building, and the library has had a series of long-term lease agreements with the village. The library and the village are currently at odds over a new lease agreement, but despite the uncertainty, the library is celebrating its first 130 years and planning for the future, according to Fleischer.
“I think of us more as the community hub,” she said. “We try to draw the community together.”
Residents have shown their support by voting in favor of propositions for funding for the library when they vote on the school budget, Fleischer said.
Fleischer, adding that the decade of the 1890s was a time when communities were looking to provide cultural resources for their residents. The Herkimer County Historical Society held its first meeting in January of 1896, after the newly chartered library’s board of trustees charged several prominent citizens with organizing the society.
