Pound Ridge Village School (Hiram Halle Memorial Library)

In 1851, a one-room schoolhouse was built at the junction of Salem and Stone Hill Roads in Pound Ridge to serve students in District #5. The Village School, as it was referred to, was closed in the late 1930s when it was replaced by a nearby central school. Pound Ridge resident and preservationist Hiram Halle took possession of the old Village School in exchange for having donated the land for the new school. After Halle’s death, the trustees of his estate donated the original building to the Pound Ridge Library Association. Enlarged with additions over the subsequent decades, the library continues to serve residents of Pound Ridge. The Hiram Halle Memorial Library is located in the Pound Ridge Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

To comply with an 1812 New York state mandate that required the creation of school districts, the hamlet of Pound Ridge was divided into seven separate school districts. Many of these districts were rezoned and combined over the next several decades, and schoolhouses to serve the students from throughout the hamlet and neighboring areas were built. To meet the needs of District #5, in 1851 two local residents, Betsey Waring and Charlotte Smith sold a parcel of land at the junction of Salem and Stone Hill Roads where a one-room Village School was constructed.

The original Village School building consists of a central pedimented gable roof section with corner pilasters, clapboard sheathing, a recessed entrance with segmental arched surround, six-over-six double-hung sash, and a square belltower. 

The Village School served students for nearly ninety years, and during World War II was also used as a location for the American Red Cross. In the late 1930s, however, the Pound Ridge School District made the decision to consolidate the multiple school districts into a central school. The funds for construction of a new school, and purchase of the grounds, required approval from residents, and a budget vote was scheduled in April of 1938. Before the vote could take place, Pound Ridge resident and historic preservationist Hiram Halle offered to provide a four-acre site for a new elementary school on Pound Ridge Road near the intersection of Westchester Avenue. In return, Halle asked for and was given the Village School building and grounds.

Hiram Halle died in 1944. In 1950, the trustees of his estate donated the old Village School to the Pound Ridge Library Association, and the original schoolhouse became the library’s home. In 1955, a large reading room was added and dedicated to Ruth M. Knight, who had provided the library’s operating funds during its first three years. The Ruth M. Knight Room currently houses the Pound Ridge Library’s adult fiction collection. In the early 1970s, a clapboard-covered extension that complements the existing architecture was added. Dedicated in 1971 to Evelyn Lelong Wood, the wing houses the children’s room, the adult non-fiction stacks and the desk area, as well as the Joseph Halle Schaffner Room, which is used for events and exhibits.

1. Harris, Jay. God’s Country: A History of Pound Ridge, New York. Pequot Press, CT. 1971.
2. Hodara, Susan. "Pound Ridge, N.Y.: A Bucolic Feel and a Sense of Community." The New York Times. Dec. 14, 2016. 
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. Pound Ridge Library. https://poundridgelibrary.org/visit/
6. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Westchester County Historical Society. 2003.