Katonah’s Little “Big Ben”

For more than a century, the Katonah Village Library has been the nerve center of Katonah's cultural life.

It opened on Dec. 10, 1880, with a modest collection of about 400 books, donated by the Katonah Village Improvement Association, now known as the Katonah Village Improvement Society. 

Today, the collection has swelled to over 50,000 items, which includes books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, audiobooks and compact discs.

Housed in the building's atrium is an intricate, grandfather clock. 8 feet tall and 29 inches wide, the timepiece was donated by a townsperson to the library on a cold, wintry day Dec. 5, 1930. 

Though the donor's name has been lost to history, engravings on the clock's face bear the name of its manufacturer. It is believed to have been built in 1860, by Theodore B. Starr, a mid-19th century New York jeweler, who made ornate clock cases.

The clock is wound by hand once a week. Every Wednesday, Virginia Fetscher, the clock's keeper, collects the keys from a secret location in the library. She inserts the key into each keyhole, one at a time, until the golden chimes rise slowly to the top.

When she is done, the Westminster chimes play, offering a solemn bong to mark the hours.