[2] The Village of Fultonville is on the south bank of the Mohawk River in the Town of Glen.

In 2019, the area of the village that had been developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Fultonville Historic District in recognition of its well-preserved architecture from its original settlement, the era centering around the development of the Erie Canal, and afterwards.

[5] Fultonville was founded around 1824 in anticipation of the opening of the Erie Canal and was incorporated as a village on August 9, 1848.

The West Shore Railroad, which was later absorbed into the New York Central system, erected a station in the village in 1889.

John Henry Starin was born in August 1825 in Sammonsville on the north side of the Mohawk, when the Erie Canal was in its infancy.

His father, Myndert, had a tavern along the river and his grandfather, John, was a farmer who had served in the military during the American Revolution.

The family was successful and had some money, but Starin would become one of the richest men in America as president of the Starin City River & Harbor Transportation Co. and as director of the North River Bank in New York City and the Fultonville National Bank.

Cobblestone Hall and Free Library was built sometime before 1868 when the house belonged to C. B. Freeman.

He lived at this residence until at least 1878 when F. W. Beers published a history of Montgomery and Fulton Counties.

By 1905, a large wooden addition had been made to the rear of the building which was then called "Cobblestone Free Hall and Library."