Sherman Free Library

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.

From the record

“Sherman Free Library is an historic free association library, located in the hamlet of Port Henry, in the town of Moriah, in Essex County, New York. It was built in 1887 and has two rooms, and is a brick building topped by slate-covered, steeply pitched gable roofs, on a limestone foundation.”
Wikipedia article Sherman Free Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 114 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1995 · category: Building.

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. 4 Church St., Town of Moriah, Port Henry, 12974
When was it listed? June 1995
Category. building
Also known as. Moriah MPS
Town. Moriah town
Architectural style. Romanesque Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 95000595 - 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

92 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 92 fires within 5 miles of Sherman Free Library between 1994 and 2020, burning about 91 acres in total. 11 started naturally. 10 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	37
Recreation and ceremony	13
Natural	11
Arson/incendiarism	10
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Debris and open burning	7
Power generation/transmission/distribution	4
Smoking	2
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
8 September 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
3 September 2012	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
3 September 2007	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
2 September 2007	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
1 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Fire Department of New York	not named
6 August 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
22 August 1999	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	New York Forest Rangers	not named

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 48 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 48 workings within 5 miles of Sherman Free Library: 29 past producers, 11 occurrences, 5 prospects, 2 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Phosphorus-Phosphates, REE, REE, Titanium, Metal, 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
Cheever Mine	Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Craig Harbor Mine	Iron, REE, Titanium	Past Producer
Crown Point Quarry	Limestone, General	Past Producer
Humbug Vein, Mineville	Titanium, Metal, Iron	Occurrence	Vein
Humbug Vein, Mineville Prospect	Titanium, Iron	Prospect
Joice Road Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Lee Mine	Iron, Titanium, Metal	Past Producer	Replacement
Millbrook Deposit	Graphite, Quartz	Occurrence
Mineville Mines	Iron, REE, Phosphorus-Phosphates	Past Producer	1810, 1824
Treadway Quarry	Marble, Dimension	Past Producer	1875

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms near this property

9 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Port Henry, the town this property stands in, in 9 storm reports between 2007 and 2024: 4 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
April 2011	Flash Flood	Port Henry	$1,500,000	Runoff from heavy rain and snowmelt caused flash flooding in the town of Moriah NY. Numerous roads were closed due to mudslides, and the Broad Street Bridge in Moriah was undermined and collapsed at approximately 03:00 EST. Later in the day, Titus Road Bridge collapsed at approximately 18:00 EST. In the hamlet of Witherbee, homes were flooded with water flowing through them.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Port Henry	$25,000	Multiple trees and power lines down with some vehicle and light structural damage.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Port Henry	$10,000	Several trees reported downed by thunderstorm winds along Bridge and Whitney streets in Port Henry.
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Port Henry	$5,000	Trees down along Route 9N near Pilershire road, north of Port Henry.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Port Henry	$2,000	Several trees downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2024	Hail	Port Henry	-	Quarter size hail reported in Moriah and Port Henry.
May 2014	Hail	Port Henry	-	Half dollar size hail reported as well as downed trees.
May 2011	Hail	Port Henry	-	Dime size hail reported by local public works department.
August 2007	Hail	Port Henry	-	Quarter size hail reported.

Every storm recorded in Essex County

Maps showing this location

9 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 Port Henry quadrangle1:62500
1898 USGS Port Henry quadrangle1:62500 - 10 printings
1945 USGS Port Henry quadrangle1:62500 - 5 printings
1947 USGS Port Henry quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1950 USGS Lake Champlain quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1958 USGS Lake Champlain quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1962 USGS Lake Champlain quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1980 USGS Port Henry quadrangle1:25000
1986 USGS Lake Champlain South 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
Mount Moriah Presbyterian Church	under 500 feet	1995
Henry's Garage	under 500 feet	2017
Van Ornam & Murdock Block	under 500 feet	1982
Moriah Town Office Building	0.1 miles	1995
Port Henry Fire Department Building	0.1 miles	1995
Delaware & Hudson Railroad Depot	0.4 miles	1995

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 95000595 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.