Black Watch Library

Built in 1905 (Jacobethan). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. 11 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.

From the record

“Black Watch Library is a historic library building located at Ticonderoga in Essex County, New York. It was built in 1905 and is a one-story brick structure with a cruciform plan in the Jacobean Revival style.”
Wikipedia article Black Watch Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 114 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1988 · category: Building · built in 1905, Jacobethan.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 161 Montcalm St., Ticonderoga, 12883
When was it listed? November 1988
Category. building
Also known as. Ticonderoga MRA
Town. Ticonderoga town
When was it built? 1905
Architectural style. Jacobethan
National Register reference number. 88002199 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

109 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 109 fires within 5 miles of Black Watch Library between 1993 and 2020, burning about 180 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 12 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	38
Debris and open burning	16
Natural	14
Arson/incendiarism	12
Recreation and ceremony	12
Smoking	9
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
7 September 2007	Smoking	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
6 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
5 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
4 September 2016	Recreation and ceremony	2.0 acres	New York Forest Rangers	MILLER MOUNTAIN
27 September 2007	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
26 September 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	New York Forest Rangers	ROGERS ROCK FIRE
17 September 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
11 September 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 24 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of Black Watch Library: 18 past producers, 4 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Graphite, Feldspar, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Barrett Manufacturing Co. Quarry	Feldspar, Garnet, Graphite, Mica	Past Producer
Lead Hill Deposit	Graphite, Sulfur-Pyrite	Past Producer	1842, 1855
Unnamed	Stone, Dimension	Past Producer	1825, 1845
Barrett Deposit	Feldspar	Past Producer	1917
Mount Defiance Mine	Iron	Past Producer	1888, 1905
Vineland and Butler Mines	Iron	Past Producer	1887, 1892
Buck Mountain Pond Property Mine	Graphite	Past Producer
Buck Mountain Prospect	Graphite	Past Producer	1903, 1907
Kirby Mine	Graphite	Past Producer
Lead Hill Mine	Graphite	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms near this property

28 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ticonderoga, the town this property stands in, in 28 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 17 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$200,000	no account filed
July 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$100,000	no account filed
March 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$25,000	Several reports of trees downed by thunderstorm winds and some utility lines downed between Schroon Lake, Crown Point and Ticonderoga off Routes 74 and 9N.
May 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$25,000	Several trees and utility lines downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 1998	Flash Flood	Ticonderoga	$25,000	no account filed
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$20,000	Numerous reports of trees and wires down including Vineyard road, Burgoyne road, Park Ave and Routes 9N, 22.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$20,000	Numerous reports of trees, large limbs and power lines down in Ticonderoga, including trees down on several vehicles on Champlain Ave.
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$15,000	no account filed
June 1996	Flash Flood	Ticonderoga	$15,000	no account filed
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$10,000	Several trees and power lines down along Route 9, just north of the village.
August 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$10,000	no account filed
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$5,000	Trees on wires.
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$5,000	Several trees downed by thunderstorms winds in Ticonderoga.
June 2019	Flash Flood	Ticonderoga	$5,000	St Claire St in Ticonderoga is flooded and impassable. Cellars are beginning to flood with emergency responders working to pump out water. In addition, several culverts between Schroon Lake and Ticonderoga have been washed out.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$5,000	Several large limbs and a few tree tops toppled.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$5,000	Several trees downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$5,000	no account filed
August 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$5,000	no account filed
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	$1,000	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	Quarter size hail reported.
August 2015	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	Several reports throughout Ticonderoga of quarter, half dollar and golf ball size hail reported accompanied by strong winds and torrential rains.
May 2012	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	Golf ball size hail reported by Ticonderoga Emergency manager.
June 2011	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	Quarter size hail reported.
July 1997	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	A cold front moved across northern New York during the late morning and afternoon hours of Monday, July 7, 1997. Showers and thunderstorms accompanied this front with locally heavy rain and some large hail.
June 2006	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	no account filed
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Ticonderoga	-	no account filed
July 2004	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	no account filed
November 2004	Hail	Ticonderoga	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Essex County

Maps showing this location

11 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1894 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1896 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1902 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:62500 - 11 printings
1950 USGS Glens Falls quadrangle1:250000
1950 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:24000 - 9 printings
1950 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1956 USGS Glens Falls quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1959 USGS Glens Falls quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1964 USGS Glens Falls quadrangle1:250000
1986 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:100000
1989 USGS Ticonderoga quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Gilligan and Stevens Block	under 500 feet	1988
PAD Factory, The	under 500 feet	1988
Clayton H. Delano House	under 500 feet	1988
Silas B. Moore Gristmill	0.1 miles	1988
US Post Office-Ticonderoga	0.1 miles	1989
Ticonderoga National Bank	0.1 miles	1988

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 88002199 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Essex County	All 114 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.