Picturesque Stamford, 1892
Historical Sketch, p. 134
JOHN DAY FERGUSON.
Died December 9, 1877, aged 45 years.
The founder of the Ferguson Library died on the 9th of December, 1877. He had for many years been identified with the cause of popular education in Stamford. He had made the interests of our school system a special study, and brought to their promotion an enthusiasm which no discouragement could dampen, and a sagacious judgment which led him always to make the best use of attainable means, while hopefully striving for better. His refinement and suavity of manners; his obvious sincerity and singleness of motive, and the confidence reposed in his integrity, always enabled him to secure an attentive hearing in the town meetings, and to exert a large influence with the voters on behalf of the plans for school improvement to which he devoted so much of his time and energies. He was the eldest son of John Ferguson and Helen Morwood Ferguson, who left New York City to become residents of Stamford in 1842, when their eldest son was ten years of age. He graduated from Trinity College in 1851, and practiced law in New York for some ten or twelve years, having completed his legal studies in the office of the distinguished ex-Senator, W. M. Evarts. In 1866 and again in 1867 he was elected a representative of Stamford in the State legislature, and from 1871 to 1874 served the district as Judge of Pro bate. In the legislature he was most appropriately assigned to duty on the Committee on Education, for his honorable reputation as an active and enthusiastic friend of the common schools, and of everything that made for the education of the masses, was by no means confined to his home town. He was a frequent attendant upon conventions of educators, and gave liberally of his means and time in visiting schools in, other towns as well as those in his own: constantly solicitous that the schools of Stamford should if possible possess every advantage which the most favored public schools in the State enjoyed. His intelligent, unselfish and unwearied interest in everything that pertained to the schools was enhanced by the characteristic courtliness and geniality of his intercourse with the teachers, and his habitual kindliness of demeanor towards the children made every youthful face brighten at his visits. At his death the School Board passed a resolution “that the public schools of Stamford, owing so much of their excellence to John D. Ferguson, be closed on Wednesday, December 12, 1877, the day of the funeral.”
Appropriately the most notable public memorial of such a man has taken the form of a permanent educational institution, and the Ferguson Library will long preserve his name, While contributing an important service to the cause to which he devoted so much of his time and labors--the cause of education. The Library owes its origin to a bequest of $10,000 made by Mr. Ferguson, conditional upon the raising of $25,000 by subscriptions or otherwise, so that the institution might start with a reasonable guaranty of permanence. In March, 1881, it was found that the condition had been met by the generosity of other subscribers, and the Ferguson bequest with interest, amounting at that time to $11,530.83, was paid over to the trustees for the Library. This sum with other subscriptions made the entire fund at that date $36,567.46. Early in January, 1882, the Library was opened to the public in the brick building on the southeast corner of Luther Street at its junction with Atlantic Street. In September, 1884, the institution received an important addition to its financial resources from a bequest by Mrs. C. E. Richardson, who died at Washington, Conn., September 8. Later, the Library trustees purchased the property now occupied by the institution on Atlantic street, opposite the R. C. church.
The Ferguson Library
Old Town Hall
Picturesque Stamford, 1892
Research Library
917.46 Stamford G
