Lost Communities
To provide water for New York City, construction of the Rondout Reservoir displaced the three communities of Eureka, Montela and Lackawack, pictured on this page. All structures were removed, all fences, trees, hedges -- even tall weeds and roads were dug up to maintain the purity of the future water supply.
Property owners were required to put in claims for the value of their lands, and were usually paid less than half of the asking price. Provision was also made to pay 6 months' lost wages for resulting loss of employment in businesses closed because of the project. An attempt by the Village of Ellenville to stop the reservoir on the grounds that it would hinder "the future public health, welfare, and development" of the village did not succeed. To add insult to injury, residents were denied easy access to the new roadways by the placement far within the "taking line," although the local towns attempted to fight this in court. In the end, the interests of New York City and its need for water trumped any local concerns.
This is a view from Eureka, looking east toward Montela and Lackawack. Dr. Kemble's house is in the foreground.
The Eureka Church.
The Eureka School. Nancy I. Moore is the teacher in this photo.
The Brundage grist and flour mill was built in 1839 in Eureka. A carding mill was later added.
The County Line Hotel straddled the Sullivan-Ulster County line, partly in the Town of Neversink and partly in the Town of Wawarsing. Since Neversink was a "dry" town, the hotel bar was operated in the Montela, Town of Wawarsing, side. In the Eureka (Neversink) side, there was a barbershop instead. Neversink remained a dry town until 2015.
A postcard showing a view of the Montela landscape.
The Montela general store and post office.
The Montela Hotel.
The excelsior mill in Montela. Excelsior consists of soft wood shavings, usually pine bark, used as packaging material.
A postcard showing a street view in Lackawack.
The Lackawack school.
Albro Brown's general store and Lackawack post office.
Lackawack street view showing building demolition in preparation for the reservoir.
Even the dead were removed from the valley to other locations determined by family of the deceased. Bodies in the Porter and Sheeley cemeteries of Eureka were the first to be exhumed in 1939, transferred to Ellenville and Grahamsville.
No full-sized caskets were used in the reburials. Pictured here are the boxes used, the size of apple crates. Due to cost, as many as six boxes of remains were buried in a single new grave.
