Waterloo Library
Waterloo, New York

The Waterloo Library was founded in 1875 in this Victorian building and is one of New York State’s oldest libraries operating under its original charter. The town of Waterloo was officially designated the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966, based on a formal observance that supposedly took place a hundred years earlier.  On May 5, 1866, the village was decorated with flags at half mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black. Veterans, civic societies, and residents, led by General John B. Murray, a Civil War veteran, marched to the strains of martial music to the three village cemeteries. There ceremonies were held and soldiers’ graves decorated. Yet the historical record suggests that this observance may have taken place later than 1866. In spite of Waterloo's official designation, many other towns lay claim to being the first to hold an observance of Memorial Day.
What Waterloo can lay claim to is the birth of the women’s rights movement. On July 13, 1848, activist Jane Hunt invited Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Mary Ann McClintock, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to her home in Waterloo. As the women drank their tea, they discussed the misfortunes imposed upon females – not having voting rights, not being able to own property, few social and intellectual outlets – and decided that they wanted change. By the end of the gathering, the five women organized the first women’s rights convention set for Seneca Falls, NY, and wrote a notice for the Seneca County Courier that invited all women to attend the influential event. Six days later, on July 19, 1848, people crowded into the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, NY. The two-day historic event catapulted the women’s rights movement into a national battle for equality.

Click Here to view the The Norfolk Library Night Owl - May 27, 2022