Moving Into a New Millennium
1990-2010
Embedded Files
After the spur of celebrations and new developments of the 1950s and 70s, Olive once again fell into a steady roster of identity affirming events and programs. Olive Day and the Boiceville "Old-timer's picnic" reunion would celebrate the town and its residents every summer, while Olive Rec continued to entertain the local children and the Olive Free Library would continue to provide a meeting space and resources to the town.
Then, starting in the mid-90s, a rush of new developments once again began in town, this time altering the way in which the residents perceived the town rather than building off the existing identity like the developments of the previous era.
New Meanings and New Ideas
New Meanings and New Ideas
Whatever our difficulties with discharging the most enlightened stewardship of this valuable resource, or exorcising the memory of what was given up and lost here in the childhood of this century, it would seem that, from the perspective of time, it is fortunate, all things considered, that the Ashokan Reservoir was constructed.
— Bob Steuding in his 1989 book, The Last of the Handmade Dams: The Story of the Ashokan Reservoir, page 112.
This quote from Bob Steuding's 1989 book, The Last of the Handmade Dams: the Story of the Ashokan Reservoir, exemplifies the attitude which would become common in content produced after the publication of his book.
Unlike the majority of the works about the town prior to it, The Last of the Handmade Dams meticulously documented not the story of the town prior to reservoir but story of how the dam was built from the legal fights to the creation of a reservoir police that would be the predecessor to the Department of Environmental Protection's police force.
What makes Steuding's work stand out is his assertion that despite the harm that was caused by the reservoir's construction, the dam itself and the landscape that was created should be looked at as special and deserving of positive attention.
A similar sentiment appears in the City That Drinks the Mountain Sky, a play written 1999 and regularly put on by the Arm-of-the-Sea theater group for nearly two decades.
Using the group's signature mix of puppets, costumes, and stage work, City That Drinks the Mountain Sky dramatizes the story of how New York City came to need clean drinking water and their eventual decision to create the Catskill Reservoir System; the turmoil that came with construction of the Ashokan Reservoir being the primary narrative. Yet, the play never demonizes the residents of New York City for needing clean water, instead putting the bulk of the blame on forceful politicians and ignorance.
While the play was written by individuals who lived outside of Olive, it has been put on multiple times at Olive Day and other occasions.
Trailer of City That Drinks the Mountain Sky (part one) by the Arm-of-the-Sea Theater. This version of the play ran from 1999 until 2018.
In line with this changing opinion, another notable trend started to appear in art and photography by locals: landscapes of the Catskills over the Ashokan.
Where these images were based from varied, although many residents and visitors stopped on the Ashokan's dividing weir in order to take photos looking over the Upper Basin, or from the Ashokan Promenade trail (better known as the "Lemon Squeeze" to the west of the weir and the "Frying Pan" to the east).
These photos, in particular, would only increase as cameras continued to become more easily accessible and Facebook became a place for people to share their pictures.
But even as some attitudes began to shift, not everything in town was changing.
Town of Olive historical quilt constructed in honor of the 175th anniversary of the first Town Board meeting. Image from the Olive Town Clerk's Office.
A Celebration! 175 Years
A Celebration! 175 Years
On May 4th, 1999, the town would celebrate the 175th anniversary of the first Town Board meeting with a special event and dedications. While the majority of the event would be similar to other anniversaries, like the first Olive Day, with an address to the town and presentations from most of the notable organizations in town, perhaps the most lasting impact was the creation of the Town of Olive Historical Quilt.
Featuring 32 squares put together by many local women, this quilt showcases many landmarks of the town, past and present. Ranging from local stores to the Onteora Speedway and Native American rock shelters to a quilted version of a lithograph celebrating the grand opening of the Ashokan, the quilt demonstrates that town's identity had begun to balance the nostalgia for the way things were and the current state of the town, at least at an official level.
The quilt would come to be hung in the Olive Free Library's community room for over a decade, a place of prominence considering the frequent town events held in that room.
Things Change, Things Stay the Same
Things Change, Things Stay the Same
While the thoughts towards the landscape and history of Olive shifted drastically, many of the places and programs that were established in the 50s and 70s continued to make their mark on life in Olive. They acted as cornerstones of the community, not to mention the continued dedication of the community to preserving the memory of the town as it was before the reservoir.
The Olive Free Library, while still difficult to access for a bulk of the population, continued to act as one of the only indoor, non-for-profit with space to gather within the town's borders. Weekly children's story hours, movie nights, summer reading programs, and even special sleepovers would be only some of the many programs that were offered. Little else would change, even the community room practically identical to how it was first built.
In the basement, there would be a museum room, which would be primarily focused on the materials depicting life prior to the Ashokan's construction, although temporary additions would sometimes be made. The content of this room would be far more akin to the sentiments of the previous era than the works of Steuding and other creators of the time. (Notably, not all of the room was dedicated to the past. For a significant portion of the museum room's existence, two large display cabinets were dedicated to a scientific shell collection that had been donated to the library.)
Front of the Olive Free Library, 2013. While taken later than 2010, the outside of the building is essentially the same as it was through the 90s and 2000s. Image from Olive Free Library's Facebook
Image of the author's father and brother jumping frogs at the Olive Day competition, unknown date (circa 2005). Image from Olive Day Calendar 2018-2019 (produced 2018) via the Olive Town Clerk's office.
A short distance away, Lester Davis Park would continue to host both Olive Day and Olive Rec, among a dozen other community events not to mention the town pool — exclusive to residents — and playground.
Olive Day would continue to grow in popularity; the exact events varying from antique fire trucks to a greased pole climb, although the frog jump remained a permanent staple. Some booths and their organizations would become frequent sights at the festival; some particularly notable examples include Bushkill Rod and Gun club's grill serving chicken liver sandwiches, Olive Free Library's bake and book sale, to the Olive Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary's Penny Social.
The car show would also gain significant popularity, drawing both antique and unique vehicles from across the county. These long-time attractions plus the continued creation of souvenir t-shirts helped cement these Olive Days as fond memories of many Olive residents.
Earlier in the year, the children of Olive rec would make traditions and trends of their own during camp. They were all typical summer camp activities — such as tie-dye days, wiffle ball, and the annual evening pool party — but some would be elevated far beyond their typical popularity. Three particularly notable examples were lanyard making, dodgeball, and four-square, all of which were practically daily activities.
Field trips would also be a major draw for the campers, with destinations like movie theaters and the annual trip to Zoom Flume being especially popular. Although, by 2007 the expense of busing the campers for these field trips would be deemed too expensive and cancelled permanently, much to the dismay of the attendees. Beyond that, however, like Olive Day and the OFL, little about Olive rec would change. The same could not be said about the relationship between the Town of Olive and New York City.
NYS Gov. George Pataki at NYC Watershed Memorandum of Agreement signing, 1997. Image from https://cwconline.org/about/history/.
Tentative Truce
Tentative Truce
If the relationship between Olive and New York City was complicated in the prior to the 1990s thanks to the animosity from the descendants of those who had their land seized and the general ambivalence of New York City — especially its residents who to this day frequently do not recognize the name of the reservoirs they receive water from — then the relationship the two groups had starting in 1997 would be doubly so.
Coming into the 1990s, New York City was facing yet another threat to their water supply: the Hudson Valley was growing, and with that came pollution and the prospect of having to build a massive filtration system to meet EPA standards. This system would have have cost approximately 6 to 7 billion dollars at the time, and NYC's administration was seeking alternative methods to preserve the water quality.
One option came in the form of buying land to protect their reservoirs by creating buffer zones, which would require over 350,000 acres (compared to the 60,000 taken for the Ashokan's construction.) And, despite the historic conflict between NYC and the local communities, negotiations would result in the historic New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (Watershed MoA.)
This agreement would cover a wide berth of topics; many would cover the process in which NYC would go about the accusation of the required land, but many would also formalize the type of incentives NYC would offer to the residents and towns covered by the agreement. Many of these incentives lessened the burden on residents and local governments when it came to lowering the cost of conforming to the new standards, such as paying for septic tank repairs and helping towns improve their winter sand and salt facilities, particularly important for a town like Olive which directly borders a reservoir. Perhaps the most important impact, however, was the fact that following this agreement, the relationship between NYC and Olive became significantly less contentious.
But it wasn't perfect, there were still significant disagreements between town and city, on both a resident and governmental scale.
One such disagreement in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001. After the attack, Monument Road — which served as a direct route from the dividing weir to West Shokan and was more commonly known as the Lemon Squeeze thanks to the narrow width of its bridge — was closed for four months and drivers were forced to take the far more meandering section of Route 28A which was typically circumnavigated.
This stemmed from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers assessment which had determined that Monument Road which crossed the Ashokan Dam (also known as the Olivebridge Dam) was a significant risk since damage to the dam could put New York City's drinking water supply at great risk.
The closure already aggravated residents but when NYC decided to close the road permanently just a year after reopening it in 2003, things came to a head for the residents of Olive.
Protests were held, with the residents citing the added 2.5 miles which could increase emergency response times, the steep hills and tight turns of that section of 28A, and the large population of deer along the route as major concerns. Some even suggested a resident-only option where individuals could have a pass which allowed them to access the road, but this was ultimately shot down.
This would ultimately culminate in a lawsuit against the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and New York City in 2007, claiming that it was in violation of the act which had required the city to build alternative roads to those lost in the construction of the reservoir. While this lawsuit would ultimately die as this claim was found to be false, it does showcase how many residents felt that this was yet another overreaching decision by the city they lost their land to and rumors still float around that the road was only closed so the city no longer had to maintain an active road over the dam.
Map depicting how Monument Road runs along the Ashokan Reservoir and is far more direct than the alternative 28A. Note that prior to 2011, the turn of 28A on the lower left was far sharper. Map taken from base ArcGIS data.
Although, some good did come from this closure; shortly after Monument Road's ban on cars, it would become a popular walking and cycling trail (not to mention photo spot as noted in this section's entry on images of the Ashokan and the Catskills) thanks to its flat, paved surface and its connection to the walking trail that continued on the other side of Monument Road's intersection with the dividing weir.
With these events and the constant presence of Department of Environmental Police (DEPolice) in town, residents' feelings towards the organizations which governed their land from afar varied greatly, especially between those who were born in town or moved there before the memorandum of agreement and those who came after. This would become increasingly exacerbated in the years to come.
Perhaps the most important thing to discuss about this period is the fact that with a growing population who grew up in this era and an even larger one that had the majority of their adulthood in this era, the traditions and attitudes of the 90s and 2000s are what many consider the "normal" Olive.
Thanks to this, it is key to conisder when interpreting the current town as we explore:
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