A New Era
A New Era
1958-1970s
Embedded Files
After the tumultuous years of Ashokan's construction, life would settle back into some form of routine for Olive, although one far different than the one it had before. Families would rebuild their homes — although many would be unable to continue the livelihoods they had prior to the displacement. However, starting in the late 1950s, a rise in community-centric projects would begin — the first being the Onteora Record.
A Town Paper
A Town Paper
In August, 1958, a new paper would begin publication under the name "The Onteora Record" (and later the "Onteora Record-Press) with a dedication to reporting the happenings in the town of Olive and the other towns in the Onteora School District, although the former typically took priority in reporting.
In its first edition, the Onteora Record would report on everything from the successful first year of the "Olive Youth Summer Program" to the birthday of "Little Harald Hults" of West Shokan and that the annual town labor day picnic was scheduled to return. Advertisements for local businesses could also be found scattered through the pages, in addition to the upcoming schedule for happenings from the various churches around town. These reports would be standard for what the Onteora Record would publish.
The Onteora Record rarely reported on national news, with headlines typically reading along the lines of " Onteora Speedway to Open" or "OCS (Onteora Central School) PTA Plans Annual Book Fair." Occasionally, The Record dedicated significant amounts of its page count to reporting on the personal happenings in the individual hamlets where they reported on who was visiting who, where local families were going on vacation, or included a student's column on school gossip.
First paragraphs of Thor Krough's article "Our First Issue" in the first issue of the Onteora Record. This dedication towards the immediate area would continue throughout its run.
While it is difficult to judge how much of an impact the Record had on the day-to-day lives of Olive residents, its existence demonstrates several things regarding local's feelings towards their town.
Firstly, there was enough interest in the mundane, daily happenings of Olive to sustain a weekly paper for at least five years. Which, while not the longest running local paper, is significant for its hyper-local content and suggests that there was a significant dedication to the maintenance of a "Town of Olive" community. Even as the paper found its footing, the Record never expanded past the Onteora School District.
How the paper structured its reports on said daily occurrences was also notable. Each hamlet had a dedicated column written by an reporter from that community, with some individuals also writing for hamlets adjacent to their own, thanks to some hamlets having high levels of overlap — such as Shokan and Ashokan whose residents overlapped to the point that Ashokan would later be absorbed by Shokan. This structure is one of the first demonstrations of how strongly the residents had come to associate themselves with their hamlets, something which hasn't been documented existing prior to the construction of the reservoir.
The reporters of the Onteora Record in its first issue. (August 27th, 1958). While the limited staff of four would quickly expand, their roles do show how locality and Olive's hamlets were considered important to the include within the paper.
The reporters and staff of the Onteora Record in a 1960 issue. (June 16th, 1960). As the Record expanded, the hyper-locality of the reporter's duties increased, with the notable exception of the hamlets of Shokan and Ashokan, the later of which has since become obsolete and absorbed the the former.
Perhaps most importantly, the Onteora Record's existence showed that there was a passion for the town and community's past. Later issues of the Record would include sections dedicated to topics like old diary entries of one of the reporters and small histories of local landmarks. Notably, these sections would cause one of the Record's reporters, Vera Van Steenburgh Sickler (who was also the town historian), to take notice of how interested her readers were in Olive's history and inspire her to begin writing the books which would become some of the first definitive histories of Olive, starting with the booklet which would be distributed at the very first Olive Day in 1973, which is discussed in the section Sesquicentennial Celebrations and a New Tradition later in this page.
Advertisement for the "Future Home of Onteora Speedway Park" with images of the construction in progress. Image via Olive Free Library.
Down Time and Playing Around
Down Time and Playing Around
Within the pages of the Onteora Record, another form of community building can be found. Throughout its run, the Record reported on the many recreation events and programs happening throughout Olive. Although this form of community gathering is far from exclusive to Olive, these sports teams, summer programs, and other forms of leisure are still an important part of the story of how Olive has maintained its identity.
For example, the Onteora Speedway, a half-mile dirt track designed for stock racing, would be built in Olivebridge off of Route 213. The Speedway would be the result of the collaboration between a number of old-timer residents, including Raymond Davis and Larry Shurter — the latter of which had been involved in stock racing himself prior to park's construction.
While it only operated from 1960 through 1965, it was popular as a place for entertainment throughout that period. However, as time went on, complaints about the noise and air pollution the cars caused would be a source of tension, even as some attempted to revive official races in the mid-1970s.
The legacy of the Speedway today is twofold, as part of the site now acts as the Olivebridge Park (also known as "Tongore Park"), which offers a wide open space. It also acts as a point in history that some locals have devoted their interest and efforts towards.
Compared to the Onteora Speedway, the Town of Olive Summer Day Camp was far more long-lasting, if less attention grabbing for local historians. Also known as "Olive Summer Rec," "Olive Day Camp," "Olive Youth Recreation Summer Day Camp," and around a variety of other variations, including "Olive Rec" (which will be used here), the program started in 1958 as a free ten week program from July to August, organized to provide the children of Olive a variety of ways to enjoy their summer holidays.
For the first several years, the programs bounced around parks throughout the week, offering everything from swimming and baseball to weaving and plaster casting, depending on the site they were at each day. Eventually, the summer program would shorten its duration, begin charging an attendance fee, and settle down at Lester S. Davis Park in West Shokan, where it is still held into the modern day.
While there are other summer camps that have been held within the boundaries of Olive, such as Camp High Point and Camp Seewackamano, Olive Rec is was the only one dedicated to the local residents. In fact, Olive Rec attendees must have parents or legal guardians who "reside, own property, or own a business" within the town. It is unclear if this restriction was present in 1958 or if it was added as the program continued but the restriction meant that Olive Rec was a way for children who resided in Olive to gather and strengthen the bonds between them, much like Olive Day would come to be.
The cover of the booklet handed out to attendees of the Gala and Field Day Celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town. Image taken by author.
Sesquicentennial Celebrations and a New Tradition
Sesquicentennial Celebrations and a New Tradition
As the town entered the 1970s, preparations would begin for the 150th anniversary of the town's founding and many residents were committed to making it a date to remember. Other than the adoption of the dove with an olive branch as the town seal, perhaps the most significant of these contributions was the first Olive Day (although at the time, it was simply called the Gala celebration and Field Day for the sesquicentennial), which would be organized by the Town of Olive Democratic Committee for Saturday July 14th, 1973 at Lester Davis Park.
The event would feature ox pulling, horseback riding competitions, and a frog jumping contest (which would go on to become a staple of the event), all of which were intended to call back to an earlier era. Quite a crowd would be drawn, including those outside of the local democratic party, such as local resident Marty Giuliano who had been recruited to reset the oxen pull with his tractor by chairman of the party, Kent Reeves. The organizers emphasized that the Field Day would honor the "junior and senior citizens" of Olive, offering both groups "free admission to the events[...]", although it is left unclear if this free entry was into the various competitions or into the event as a whole.
As the event was in honor of the sesquicentennial, a souvenir booklet, History of the Town of Olive: 1823-1973, on the history of Olive was created by town historian Vera Van Steenburgh Sickler that commemorated the community and history of the town. Despite over 60 years passing since the reservoir was constructed, the majority of this booklet focused on the town prior and up to that period. This focus would continue when Sickler expanded the booklet into a two volume publication, The Town of Olive Through the Years, that explored the hamlets of Olive in detail, drawing from Sickler and other local's memories of the way life had been.
Beyond the impact of Sickler's work, had the field day been an one-time happening and the Olive Democratic Committee returned strictly to their annual picnics, this celebration may not have been as notable in the long-term history of Olive. But it was picked up again the next year, and the one after that, continuing to this day picking up the name "Olive Day" by its third year and the symbol of the frog as its mascot by its tenth. The event has shifted and changed over the years, although it still marks a day to celebrate the town itself — as well as a day to cheer on kids at the frog jumping contest.
The cover of the booklet celebrating the 10th annual Olive Day. Image taken by author.
"First Olive Library Located In The Old West Shokan School" from the "Olive Free Library is Founded" page on the A Town Shaped by Water online exhibit.
A Community Center (For Some)
A Community Center (For Some)
Leading up to 1951, something big was beginning to move: the creation of a town library. Claire and Joseph Friedberg would begin this effort, with a group of locals eventually meeting in their home for its organizational meeting. At some point during this organizational period, it was decided that the town library would not charge late fees, thus the name of the Olive Free Library (OFL).
This organization eventually led to the formal accreditation the group as the Olive Free Library on a provisional charter allowing it to operate on a limited basis and in 1952, the old District No. 8 School house in West Shokan was turned over to the OFL to serve as its home base.
This location had its downsides — even in the 1950s, West Shokan was far from the most populated area of town — but the library continued to serve the community by offering a place close to home to borrow books from for decades, with new additions to the collection often ending up in Onteora Record.
However, the OFL would eventually outgrow the one-room school house it resided in as it gained its permanent charter and became an association library — meaning that it is funded by a trust and controlled by trustees rather than by the town government — and in the late 1960s, a library expansion fund would be established to contract a new building on the land. Aided by a memorial donation in 1967 and financial support from the O'Conner Foundation, the fund would grow enough for the library to begin construction a new building, which still acts as the library today.
A public opening for the new building would be held be held on June 3rd, 1972. At this event, special attention would be called to the large room that would be specifically designated as a meeting room. This room would serve as the main staging ground of a variety of programs, including serving as a polling location during elections in later years.
Despite this growth, the library continued to suffer from being difficult to access for those on north side of the reservoir or those to the far east, both of which were closer to other towns' libraries.
"First Olive Library Located In The Old West Shokan School" from the "Olive Free Library is Founded" page on the A Town Shaped by Water online exhibit.
As the 1970s came to a close, Olive continued to adapt and change as fewer residents had living memory of the Esopus Valley and others began to embrace the new landscape and rethink their relationship with the past.
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