Trinity Episcopal Church and Parish House · Photo: Stephen Schweitzer · CC BY-SA 4.0Watertown’s library logs 4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library serves Watertown’s 24,685 residents. Last year it lent 100K print books and media and logged 98K visits.
The short version on Watertown’s library
The library is a National Register landmark
Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 39,052 square feet. The building ↓
A place to get online
Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library logs about 367 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 26 public computers. That’s 5.4 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
83% of Watertown carry a library card
20,513 cards for 24,685 people, or 83%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
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 Watertown’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Watertown is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #319 of 751 in New York. Watertown’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 →
155 community nonprofits are registered in Watertown
6.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (30 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.6%
5.6% of Watertown’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 Watertown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library serves 24,685 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
100K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 79K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.3 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 kids’ programs a week
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 Watertown last year.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, 229 Washington Street, Watertown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Watertown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library
Flower, Roswell P., Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 10, 1980. It is significant for its art, education, architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts.
The Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library is a historic library building located in Watertown in Jefferson County, New York. The library was built in 1903 through 1904, and completed on November 10, 1904. The library opened on January 4, 1905. It was donated to the city by Emma Flower Taylor as a memorial to her father Roswell P. Flower (1835–1899), the 30th governor of New York.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Watertown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 20,513 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Watertown
Does Watertown have a public library?
Yes. Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, 229 Washington Street, serves Watertown’s 24,685 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roswell P. Flower 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 Watertown’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 4.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Watertown’s civic life grade?
B Watertown is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #319 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 Watertown.
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.