Where is the library?
The Dunham Public Library is located at 76 Main Street in the village of Whitesboro, Oneida County New York. The village is located in the town of Whitestown, which was the first permanent settlement of the county...being formed by an act of legislature passed on March 7, 1788. Whitestown was named after Hugh White, one of the original purchasers of the Sadaquada Patent in 1784. At that time the Patent included present day Whitesboro.
In between the year of purchase by Hugh White (1784) and the act of legislature (1788), a tavern was built in Whitesboro. This tavern was operated by Lewis Berry and was located on the exact site of the current library. Owned by Daniel White (son of Hugh), the tavern was eventually completely destroyed by a fire, clearing the lot for the construction of a home by Moses Earl Dunham.
History of the Dunham House:
Moses Earl Dunham, D.D., PHD was called to become a pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Whitesboro in 1864. In 1874, the Dunham house was listed in the Atlas of Oneida County, New York...putting the actual construction of the residence somewhere between 1864 and 1874.
The house was built by Moses Dunham within this ten year period for his residence. However, there was a period of time between completion of the house and 1880 that Moses did not occupy the home. In 1881, he accepted an appointment as principal of the Whitestown Seminary. It was at this time that he re-occupied the home that he had built.
Upon the death of Moses Dunham's only son, George Earl Dunham (more about him later!), on October 29, 1922, he left to the Union Free School District of Whitesboro the homestead of his late father and the sum of $7500 to be used as a public library or to be transferred into a trust for Hamilton College.
Establishment of the library:
George Dunham's widow, Helen Dunham, worked very hard and donated much of her time to prepare the library for opening.
The Dunham Public Library was chartered on October 28, 1926 and officially opened, as a Public School District Library, on July 25, 1927. Mrs Dunham died in 1945, leaving furniture, her personal library and $30,000 to the new library. In 1936 - 37, the Dunham Public Library was rechartered as a public library serving the Whitesboro Central School district.
The library has had two earlier additions to the original home: sometime between 1874 and 1907, an addition was added to the rear of the original home. The front entrance is the second addition, added just after the death of Helen Dunham, part of her $30,000 was used for this purpose.