Pound Ridge Museum (former Presbyterian Lecture Room & Town Hall)

The Greek Revival-style building that now serves as the Pound Ridge Museum dates to 1853. It was originally constructed as a Lecture Room for the Pound Ridge Presbyterian Church and served in that capacity until 1921, when it became the Pound Ridge Town Hall. In 1983 it became the Pound Ridge Museum and is also home to the Pound Ridge Historical Society. The museum building is located in the Pound Ridge Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

In 1853, members of the Female Sewing Society of Pound Ridge raised funds for the construction of a Lecture Room next to the Presbyterian Church of Pound Ridge. The Pound Ridge Presbyterian Church had been rebuilt in 1786 after the original 1760 building was destroyed by the British in 1779. The Greek Revival-style Lecture Room on Westchester Avenue was one story and three bays, with flushboard siding, a clapboard gable roof, broad frieze, and Doric corner pilasters.

The Pound Ridge Presbyterian Church was razed in 1893. The Lecture Room was moved to the site where the church had formerly stood. A new Presbyterian Church, named the William Patterson Memorial Church after a beloved former minister, was constructed on the site of the Lecture Room. 

The Lecture Room remained in use until 1921 when it was sold to the Town of Pound Ridge, which used it as a Town Hall until 1983. Since then, the building has been leased by the Pound Ridge Historical Society, which uses it as a headquarters and for the Pound Ridge Museum. The Pound Ridge Museum is chartered by the New York State Department of Education and does exhibits and programs to promote and preserve the history of Pound Ridge. Events and exhibits are funded by the Historical Society, and the Town maintains the museum building.  

1. Harris, Jay. God’s Country: A History of Pound Ridge, New York. Pequot Press, CT. 1971.
2. “Historic Landmarks of Pound Ridge” pamphlet. The Pound Ridge Historical Society. 1996. 
3. “Pound Ridge Historic District #85003196.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1985. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323177 
4. Pound Ridge Historical Society. https://www.poundridgehistorical.org/ 
5. Town of Pound Ridge. https://www.townofpoundridge.com/livinghere/history 
6. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Westchester County Historical Society. 2003.