Step through the doors of the Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library, and you enter the center of our local community.

Julia Butterfield was a community philanthropist and supporter of the arts who established the library through a bequest in her will. The library was built on the original site of the old Dutch Reformed Church, with construction lasting for around 3 years, starting in 1922. The library was opened in 1925.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the Butterfield Library since its opening. The centennial celebration was hosted by the library’s Board of Trustees and Friends of the Library group on June 7th.

At the celebration, there were a multitude of activities. The yearly tradition of the bookmark contest took place during the celebration, where those who attended viewed and voted on the contest entries to decide which one would become the official library bookmark. Also, the high school and middle school Battle of the Books teams, who compete in an annual competition, hosted a book and bake sale to raise money for the teams. Additionally, live music by local musicians gave the event a warm and light atmosphere. Two reenactors, Marianne Sutton and David Watson, played the roles of Julia and Daniel Butterfield respectively. They greeted patrons in character, complete with a Civil War uniform, a fake mustache, and a kerchief. Haldane seniors Keira Shanahan and Louis Ferreria, as well as sophomore Lincoln Wayland, presented excerpts from the ongoing student-aided digitization project of historic Buttefrield letters from the library’s archives.

Thanks to a grant from Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg, the library was also recently able to purchase a Book Bike. According to Library Director Johanna Reinhardt, the bike will be used as a way to reach out for community events, as well as to travel to schools, the senior center, and a variety of other locations to sign people up for library cards, to check out books, and provide program information. She feels as though it’s a way to bring the library to everyone.

Reflecting on her volunteer work in the Butterfield archives after the Centennial celebration, senior Keira Shanahan said in response to written questions, “Libraries are the cornerstones of communities. They’re a place, or they should be a place, where everyone is welcome. She continued, “The world needs libraries, and I am ever so grateful for our own here in Cold Spring.”

Senior Louis Ferreira also noted that libraries can play an important role in students’ lives. He said, “Libraries are something that I feel every town should have…concentrating all sorts of educational material and services is [helpful] for everyone in the community.”

The 100th anniversary of Butterfield Library put a spotlight on the importance of this building to our Cold Spring Community.

Students interested in volunteering for Buterfield’s ongoing digitization project in the library archives may contact the library director, Johanna Reinhardt, at [email protected].