Blair Estate

Just two year later, Kleinhans sold his newly completed home to DeWitt Clinton Blair (1833-1915), of Blairstown, New Jersey. He was the second son of John Insley Blair who built the first four railroads out of Chicago, founded Blairstown, and died in 1899 with a fortune of $70 million. Both DeWitt's sons were born here and he became a prominent local figure as President of both the Belvidere Bank and the Belvidere Water Company. 

The 27-room Blair mansion, "had three large porches and three floors of rooms. On the first floor there was a front hall, a living room, a library, a butler's pantry, a kitchen, and a laundry. The second floor contained 9-bedrooms and 3-baths... The third floor had 8-bedrooms and a large attic". They lived between here, New York City, and Blair Eyrie.

D.C. Blair survived his wife by one year and died in 1915. By then their sons had built their own vast mansions elsewhere, but nonetheless they maintained their childhood home, presumably for sentimental reasons. By 1923 it had become superfluous to their needs and they sold it almost fully furnished to the Presbyterian Synod of New Jersey for $17,000. 

The D.C. Blair House now became the Presbyterian Home for the Aged - a care home for elderly Presbyterians without family to care for them. The inside was adapted to fit more rooms and the Synod later added two wings plus a solarium, gams room, and beauty room. The house continued in this capacity until 1970 when it was sold to Warren County for $375,000. In 1973, it became - as it continues today - the Warren County Library.