Perhaps the most imposing, and certainly the most durable structure of the Dodge period was that erected last, the James B. Colgate Library. By the early 1880’s the need for book space and an adequate reading room had become readily apparent and James B. Colgate offered to provide a fireproof building. Difficulties in selecting a site held up ground-breaking until April, 1889, a delay Mr. Colgate found embarrassing but powerless to overcome. The spot ultimately chosen had been the farm of Daniel Hascall, who will be remembered as one of the Thirteen Men and the first teacher. Edwin A. Quick, Mr. Colgate’s Yonkers neighbor, was the architect, who, with the donor, consulted librarians and visited many libraries before achieving final plans. Mr. Quick wrote: “The building has been carefully adapted to surroundings; designed in all its details in accordance with true artistic feeling, with a due regard for harmony with the purposes for which it is to be used, and as long as it exists will undoubtedly give pleasure and satisfaction to those who contemplate it.” The architectural style
