We are the Putnam Valley Historical Society, founded in 1968, when the approaching bicentennial of the American Revolution was heightening everyone’s awareness of history. In 1975, the residents of the Central School District voted to give the old one-room schoolhouse at Adams Corners to the Town. The Historical Society was asked to open and maintain a museum for Putnam Valley at the schoolhouse.

Today’s museum building was erected in 1846. It served as one of the many one-room schoolhouses, each a separate district, until our rural schools were consolidated as a central district in 1935. Afterward, the building housed the Public Health Association of Putnam Valley and Kent, the local chapter of the American Red Cross and a cooperative nursery school before becoming a museum.

The Putnam Valley Historical Society collects and preserves the story of our heritage. We seek and accept photographs, oral history, documents and artifacts about the people, places, and events of Putnam Valley and the region’s past.

As advocates for history, we encourage the preservation of both the physical and written record to ensure that future generations may learn from, and enjoy, what we have safeguarded.

Museum dedication