Brief History of the Mamakating Library
On February 27, 1906, the Bloomingburg “Y” Free Library was opened by the Young Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Dr. Bull’s Hall.
In 1912 the Y was dropped and the name became Bloomingburg Free Library. In 1913 a provisional charter was issued by New York State. (It was renewed seven times before an absolute charter was finally obtained in 1976.) In 1922, the library moved to the DuBois Chapel of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1951, a second room was added within the Church, becoming the upstairs reading room and children’s section. Building upgrades allowed the library to qualify for the 1976 absolute charter.
The first year the Town of Mamakating budgeted money for the library was 1967, which, along with many types of fundraisers, and support from both villages, kept the library in operation.
In 1977, due to residents’ interests, a Wurtsboro Branch Library was established on Sullivan Street. In 1983 it moved to the building on the corner of Pine and 4th Streets (owned at the time by the Dutch Reformed Church).
In 1995 the Bloomingburg Branch moved from the now former Dutch Reformed Church to the Bloomingburg Village Hall. A year later, the Wurtsboro Branch moved from the Pine Street location to the Orange &Rockland Building at 73 Sullivan Street.
A proposition was passed by voters in 2003 for the creation of a library district, in effect dissolving the Bloomingburg Free Library.
Subsequently, the Wurtsboro Branch closed (in 2007), leaving only one branch. A year later the Board, faced with a large rent increase, again needed a new home. Trustees considered an offer for space in the Bloomingburg Business Center building, but selected 154 Sullivan Street in Wurtsboro as it was more suitable for a library. Thus, the Bloomingburg site was closed and the library moved again to Wurtsboro. The Board chose 154 Sullivan Street as a temporary home while starting to find a site for a building project.
In 2010, the State issued the library an absolute charter, resulting in a name change, as requested by the Trustees, from the Town of Mamakating District Library to the Mamakating Library.
In 2015, a new library was built at 128 Sullivan Street, on the site of a once grand residence, now abandoned. One hundred nine years after its birth, the library had its own building.
