Brickhouse Brewery, Carnegie Library
Historic Business and Historic Library
Brickhouse Brewery (67 West Main Street) is the oldest commercial building in Patchogue. The J.S. Havens General Store was destroyed by fire and its wooden structure rebuilt in brick in 1862. Owner John S. Havens died in 1903 after serving as Patchogue’s Postmaster and Brookhaven Town Supervisor. It is believed that this building was a stop on the Underground Railroad and escaped slaves were hidden in the basement. John Havens was descended from Long Island Quakers who were strong abolitionists.
In 1914 James G. Shand opened Shand’s Hardware Store here, selling to the farming and business communities. James Shand began his career at the Hammond-Mills store on the Four Corners like Arthur Swezey. After the very popular Shand died in 1961, his family continued the business until 1990. In 1996, new owners, Brickhouse Brewery, remodeled the front addition for its microbrewery. The owners preserved the historic appearance of John Havens’ original building by matching the original brickwork. Uncovered during renovation, an early Shands advertising sign is visible on the west side of the Brickhouse Brewery.
Before crossing West Main Street at Havens Avenue, it’s a five minute walk to the Carnegie Library at 160 West Main Street
The Patchogue Library began as an association in 1883, was made public in 1900 and had 7 different locations before the Carnegie Library was built in 1908. Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of libraries around the world. Carnegie provided $15,000 to the Patchogue community to build a library on the condition they support its continued maintenance. Architect John Van Pelt chose a neoclassical design with Greek columns for the new Carnegie Library. Edwin F. Bailey of the Bailey lumber mills donated land on Lake Street for Patchogue’s new library.
The Patchogue Library, which became the Patchogue-Medford Library in 1973, was located in the Carnegie building from 1908 – 1981. Briarcliffe College took over in 1981 and remained until 2003. The empty Carnegie Library sat behind Swezey’s Department Store in the area transformed into New Village at Patchogue. A group of local citizens formed “Friends of the Carnegie Library” to propose the historic Carnegie be saved and adaptedly reused. TRITEC Corporation funded and moved the Carnegie to property donated by Suffolk County to the Village of Patchogue. In 2012 the 100-ton brick building was lifted and transported, at a two inch per minute crawl, to 160 West Main Street, where it stands today. The Knapp-Swezey Foundation funded renovations of the Carnegie Library and it opened as the Patchogue-Medford Library’s Teen Center in 2016. The Greater Patchogue Historical Society Museum is also located in the renovated Carnegie Library.