by Shannon Butler There is little doubt that the Adriance Memorial Library is a fabulous addition to the architectural landscape of the City of Poughkeepsie. Though this is not the first location of Poughkeepsie’s library. In fact, the library seemed to move around from place to place in its early days of existence without a home of its own. There appears to have been a library for public use in this area going back to the late 18th century when it was part of a local school. Sometime in the late 1830s, the library went from the Lancaster School which was located on Church Street to S. H. Bogardus’ harness store at 324 Main Street (that’s convenient, you could get a new harness for the farm and check out a book on plowing techniques!). It stands to reason that as the number of volumes grew, so did the need for space. After the act in 1843 which established the Board of Education and included the overseeing of libraries, our library moved again to a location near the back of the First Reformed Church on Union Street. Its next stop was the Court house building in 1862 where it remained for about [...]