Lowville Keeps Lewis County Memory in the Temple

Lowville’s county-center role has a handsome brick home. The Lewis County Historical Society owns and works from the former Lowville Masonic Temple, a 1928 Colonial Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Inside, county memory is less formal than the facade might suggest. Archives and library materials share the building with rotating displays, a small shop, lunches, talks, and community programs. Lewis County also sends local-history questions to the Historical Society in its role as the official historian.

That makes the Temple more than an old building saved for its architecture. It is where family names, photographs, records, and North Country stories are organized and handed back to the public.

Courthouse work and ordinary errands already bring people into Lowville. The former Masonic Temple puts the county’s past nearby, with shelves, talks, and displays still active in the middle of town.

Lowville keeps a great deal of Lewis County memory under one very dignified roof.