About the Schenectady County Historical Society
The Schenectady County Historical Society is a private, nonprofit institution founded in 1905 to share and preserve Schenectady County's history. From its headquarters at 32 Washington Avenue, the society operates three distinct sites: the Schenectady History Museum and Grems-Doolittle Library, the Mabee Farm Historic Site in Rotterdam Junction, and the 1735 Brouwer House Creative, one of Schenectady's oldest homes. Together they bring the county's history to life through exhibits, research services, school programs, and community events.
From a City Museum to the Oldest House in the Mohawk Valley
The society's museum collection numbers more than 12,500 objects spanning art and decorative arts, toys, clothing and textiles, farm equipment and tools, archaeological artifacts, and objects related to Schenectady industry and trade. The Grems-Doolittle Library is the county's premier local history research center, holding over 6,000 books and periodicals, 30,000 photographic prints, 750 maps, 65 linear feet of newspaper clippings and surname files, and roughly 2,000 linear feet of archival records, legal documents, and photographs, available to researchers by appointment.
The society's most remarkable property is the Mabee Farm Historic Site along Route 5S in Rotterdam Junction, about six miles west of the city. Its stone farmhouse dates to approximately 1705 and has been confirmed through dendrochronology testing at Cornell University as the oldest known unaltered structure standing in the Mohawk Valley. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and donated to the society in 1993 by George Franchere, the last Mabee descendant to own the property, the 9.6-acre farm also includes a 1760s brick house, a 1790s inn, a 1760s Dutch barn relocated from Johnstown in 1997, a family cemetery, and the 13,000-square-foot George E. Franchere Education Center, completed in 2011. Year-round programming across the sites includes guided walking tours, kayaking excursions, workshops, concerts, festivals, and school outreach.
Plan Your Visit
The Schenectady History Museum and Grems-Doolittle Library are located at 32 Washington Avenue in Schenectady, with the Mabee Farm Historic Site a short drive west in Rotterdam Junction. For current hours, tour times, admission, and event schedules, visit schenectadyhistorical.org.
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