30 Center Street

Livingston County Museum

The Livingston County Museum on Center Street was built for a Union School in 1838, the gift of James Wadsworth. This cobblestone building, originally in the shape of a Greek cross, has seen three major additions. The first in 1871 was a wooden section to the southwest now used as the County Historian’s office. Due to increased enrollment, a second wooden addition was made to the southeast in 1916. The building was used as a schoolhouse until the erection of a new large school in 1932 (the present Doty Building) when it was deeded to the Livingston County Historical Society. Prior to that time, the society’s relics had been housed in the Log Cabin in the Village Park. In 1934 the portion of the Big Tree, which had stood in sort-of a summer house for years on the grounds of Hartford House, was moved to the lawn of the museum. The Historical Society made a third addition to the building in 1968 when they added the large board and batten wing to the rear to house carriages and large equipment. A true village landmark, this building houses a remarkably extensive collection of Livingston County artifacts.