{"nrhp_refnum":"84003195","name":"Southworth Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"24 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dryden","county":"Tompkins County","state":"NY","lat":42.49073424000005,"lon":-76.29909979699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-06-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-one-half-story rough-cut masonry library at 24 West Main Street in the village of Dryden, Tompkins County, New York, built in 1894 to designs by William Henry Miller of Ithaca.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a distinctive small-scale example of Eclectic civic architecture and the most distinctive civic building in Dryden. It is also an example of work by Ithaca architect William Henry Miller, who designed it as a miniature of Cornell's Uris Library. It is further tied to the prominent McGraw and Southworth family through a bequest from Jennie McGraw-Fiske.","narrative":"Southworth Library is a small stone library at 24 West Main Street in Dryden, New York, completed in 1894. Architect William Henry Miller of Ithaca designed it as a miniature of his Uris Library at Cornell University, and J. Allington and Son of Elmira built it. The building has rough-cut masonry walls, a steeply pitched slate gable roof, inset chimneys, an asymmetrical bell tower and a round-arched entrance vestibule. Circular gable windows have wrought-iron screens and carved stone gargoyles. Inside are a cathedral ceiling, an open-grid metal stack floor, fine woodwork and two tiled fireplaces with carved mantels. A Seth Thomas clock was added to the tower in 1897. Jennie McGraw-Fiske provided $30,000 in her will for the library, which honors her mother and grandfather, John Southworth, a wealthy local farmer and merchant. It is considered Dryden's most distinctive civic building and remains a community landmark in use as a library.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect William Henry Miller, Ithaca, New York; builder J. Allington and Son, Elmira, New York","architectural_style":"Eclectic style civic architecture, with Richardsonian influence and English Arts and Crafts influence","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a library, open to the public; described as in good condition on its original site, with no known threats.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.937905-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84003195.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003195/a2d83d5007-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003195/a2d83d5007-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southworth_Library_Dryden_NY_Jan_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southworth_Library_Dryden_NY_Jan_10.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315158","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southworth_Library_(Dryden,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7571503"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tompkins-county/southworth-library-84003195/"}