Our History

Athens NY, mid-1800s. It was a time when men worked for a dollar a day in freezing temperatures, cutting ice blocks to fill the eleven large ice houses in Athens. Folks traveled by horse or stagecoach. Children had one pair of shoes and were lucky to attend school. Still, it is an age looked back on with nostalgia as a simpler time. It was during this era that a studious young boy named Daniel Redfield Evarts was raised in modest circumstances. He came from a large family and had no free access to books. The local Dutch Reformed minister gave him some books and a small room with a light where he could study.

Evarts overcame the limitations of poverty and to acquire the knowledge he so ardently sought. He took a position with the New York and Philadelphia Transportation Company, leaving Athens to do so. Even with his success, he never forgot the humble beginnings in his hometown and the kindness shown to him. It was because of this that, upon his death in 1899, he bequeathed Athens the money to build its first library. 

The cornerstone was laid with Masonic rites by General G. S. Nichols, kicking off a three-day celebration called “Old Home Week” with parades, concerts, ball games, a motor boat race, and carnival, with a church service closing the festivities. Placed in a box within the cornerstone were copies of Mr. Evarts’ and his wife’s will, American flags, and an ice tool catalogue, amongst other artifacts. The silver trowel used to lay the cornerstone is still displayed on the wall of the Library. 

Generations of Athens residents have continued Mr. Evarts’ work since the Library’s opening in 1907: the Library’s Board of Trustees is passionate about their responsibility to protect his legacy, constantly caring for the Library’s stately building and serving the Athens community.