Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0Ticonderoga’s library runs 14 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library serves Ticonderoga’s 4,789 residents. Last year it lent 17K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
What Ticonderoga’s library is like
Nearly everyone in Ticonderoga has a card
4,670 cards for 4,789 people, or 98%. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Black Watch Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. Today’s library there has 4,600 square feet. The building ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
What’s behind Ticonderoga’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ticonderoga is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #302 of 751 in New York. Ticonderoga’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Ticonderoga
8.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.4%
6.4% of Ticonderoga’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Ticonderoga’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library serves 4,789 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
17K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 22K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
2,110 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
68 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Ticonderoga last year.
A National Register landmark since 1988
Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library, 99 Montcalm Street, Ticonderoga.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ticonderoga? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Black Watch Library
Black Watch Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 15, 1988. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Tudor Revival. It was listed as part of Ticonderoga MRA.
Black Watch Library is a historic library building located at Ticonderoga in Essex County, New York. It was built in 1905 and is a one-story brick structure with a cruciform plan in the Jacobean Revival style. It features a blue / green slate gable roof with projecting rafter ends. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ticonderoga cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $118K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $281K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $118K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 4,670 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Ticonderoga ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schroon | Schroon Lake Public Library | 13.5 | 30 | A |
| Orwell | Orwell Free Library fine-free | 4.4 | 25 | A |
| Ticonderoga | Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library fine-free | 3.7 | 35 | B |
| Shoreham | Platt Memorial fine-free | — | 27 | A− |
| Crown Point | Hammond Library of Crown Point fine-free | — | 25 | D− |
| Putnam | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Hague | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Ticonderoga
Does Ticonderoga have a public library?
Yes. Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library, 99 Montcalm Street, serves Ticonderoga’s 4,789 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Ticonderoga’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Ticonderoga’s civic life grade?
B Ticonderoga is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #302 of 751 in New York. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Ticonderoga.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.