History of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District
Boardman Road Branch Library
Andrew Boardman (1812-1881), once a prominent member of the New York Bar Association, was born in England, raised in New York City, and first studied medicine. After choosing not to practice as a physician, Boardman studied law and flourished in that field. With his younger brother as partner, the Manhattan firm of Boardman and Boardman gained much respect for its work in commercial law.
With his second wife, Cordelia Yvelin, Andrew Boardman purchased a farm on the road between Spackenkill Road and Pudney Mills for a summer home shortly after the Civil War. He subsequently purchased numerous adjoining farms until he owned an estate of nearly 800 acres. Boardman named his estate Cliffdale and undertook many projects to enhance his summer retreat, including the construction of an imposing entrance, water features, and observatories perched on high points affording views of the Catskill Mountains.
After Andrew Boardman’s death in 1881, Cordelia married Thomas Macpherson. They lived at the Boardman summer home until they purchased another parcel of land just north of Water Works Road (now part of Marist College). Local developer James Sague and his brother-in-law Clarence Kenyon, the wealthy raincoat and tire manufacturer, purchased the estate in 1906. An impressive 23-room manor, often called the Kenyon House, was built between 1909 and 1913 near the Spackenkill end of Boardman Road. After the death of Clarence Kenyon, his daughter Helen Kenyon, Vassar graduate and chairman of the Board of Trustees for Vassar College, lived on the estate until approached by IBM.
In 1944, 217 acres and the Kenyon mansion were purchased by IBM for use as a temporary research and engineering laboratory. Once a new research facility was built further north on Boardman Road (now the home of Our Lady of Lourdes High School), the Kenyon house was used as a training facility for visiting executives. Near the Kenyon out-buildings, IBM built its own power plant (boiler house) to supply power and heat to its planned complex of research and development facilities on Boardman Road.
In 2012, voters approved the building of a new branch library on Boardman Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie. On April 12, 2015, the Poughkeepsie Public Library District opened its Boardman Road Branch Library. The renovated structure originally housed the power plant to supply heat and cooling to the IBM research complex on Boardman Road. The Friends of Poughkeepsie Public Library District opened up a permanent Book Store in the rear of the library to sell gently used books, generously donated by the community, proceeds of which support the Library District.