CHAPTER V: NEW INDUSTRIES

A Vacation Spot
Enjoying the Lake
Stagescoaches and Railroads
The Lake Mahopac Improvement Company
Ice
The Knickerbocker Ice House
Logging
Farming
Local News
Stone Quarries
Iron Mines
The Mines Cave In
The End of the Hotels

A VACATION SPOT
Mahopac and Mahopac Falls were quiet farming towns for the first part of the 1800's. The something happened that was to change life very much in Mahopac. It was discovered by the outside world. Here was a beautiful, quiet lake, and it was close enough to New York City so that travelers could reach it easily. What a perfect vacation spot!
In 1843, a hotel was put up on the lake shore. It was known as the Mahopac Hotel and was built by a man named Stephen Monk. This was the beginning of a new way of life for Lake Mahopac. A resort town had been born.

Let's take a little trip around Lake Mahopac. Our first stop is the small beach and playground where some of you go in the summer. Look across the street. Do you see a little park with houses nearby? Look harder. Try to imagine a building standing there in front of you.
This was the famous Gregory House. Before it was put up, Mr. Monk's Mahopac Hotel was here. It was now moved behind this big, new building.
Let's move farther down the street. Behind the Mahopac CVS on Route 6, at the site of the Wendlyn Apartments, you would have seen, not too many years ago, the Carpenter House and the Baxter Hotel.
Now, go toward the corner of East Lake Boulevard and Route 6. What do you see here? Can you find the only red brick building of Four Brothers Restaurant?
At one time, the Thompson House stood on that very spot. The Thompson House burned down in 1869. It was quickly replaced by a newer, larger building. The new hotel was about 200 feet long. It had 200 rooms and could hold 250 guests. Much later, this hotel was known also as The Hotel Mahopac.
Next, we will visit the corner of 6N and West Lake Boulevard. Along the shore of the lake stood the huge, rambling Dean House. It started out as a small boarding house in 1852 and grew as hundreds and hundreds of guests began to come out each summer.
Be sure to notice the lovely old houses standing along the southern shore of the lake when you take your trip from town to the Dean House. Many wealthy people from the city had also built summer homes along the lake.
On the west shore of the lake stood the grand building, the Forest House. In later years, it too, burned down. It was replaced by a new, red brick building which was recently torn down to build private homes.
When you visit the Forest House lot, look to the west. If there are no leaves on the trees, you will see Kirk Lake down below the rocky cliffs. The surface of Lake Mahopac is 70 feet higher than that of Kirk Lake.

ENJOYING THE LAKE
It was a happy time for the lucky vacationers. They could enjoy the cool lake breezes and all kinds of activities were planned for their pleasure. There were boat regattas on the lake. Small boats were decorated just as we decorate floats and trucks in a parade. There was tennis, bowling and boating.
The Gregory House had a large steamboat which took passengers around the lake. It was called the Dewdrop. Sometimes a band played on board and people gathered along the shores to listen to the music.
The Dean House even had an observation tower up on Barrett Hill. People could climb up and look at the view.
There were concerts and dances as well as a lovely lake and quiet, peaceful woods.

STAGECOACHES AND RAILROADS
At first, vacationers came here by stagecoach. One of the main roads to Mahopac was the old Peekskill Road, which went through Mahopac Falls and Shrub Oak. It is now called Route 6N.
After 1849, when the Harlem Railroad was built as far as Croton Falls, people came by train. They were met at the station by coaches belonging to the different hotels. The Gregory House coach was pulled by 10 white horses and the Baldwin House coach had 8 black horses. People came in the evening to see the exciting race as the coaches tried to beat each other back into town.
In 1871, the New York City and Northern Railroad built its tracks all the way to Carmel. The first train run from New York to Mahopac was on July 4, 1871. It was an occasion for a big celebration. The Harlem Railroad then made plans to extend its tracks to Mahopac.
Now people could make the trip much more quickly and comfortable. Sometimes, very wealthy people hired a whole railroad car to bring up their family and the things they would need for the summer.
Local residents tell about a wedding that was held in a large house which stood where the Grand Union is now. The wedding guests had come up on the train. It stopped in front of the house and a long red carpet was unrolled from the tracks to the house. The guests got off and walked on the carpet to the wedding.

THE LAKE MAHOPAC IMPROVEMENT COMPANY
When the railroads arrived in town, a group of people from New York City decided that Lake Mahopac would be a good business investment. The Lake Mahopac Improvement Company was formed. It bought up large amounts of land around the lake for which very high prices were paid.
These men had many grand and glorious plans. They hoped to turn Mahopac into a cultural center. They hired many men to come to town to work on laying out North and West Lake Boulevards. On the day the first train arrived, the roads were opened.
A cornerstone was laid for a Museum of Natural History on the north shore. The grand day was marked by a joyous parade. A fancy dress ball was held at the Gregory House. It was a Fourth of July celebration to be long remembered.
They planned to build a Musical and Arts College with an auditorium that would seat 2,500 people. They wanted to bring masterpieces of art here from Europe. Great musicians were to perform. Mahopac would be known the world over!
Estates were to be built for wealthy people. They also planned to build a large hotel on Canopus Island. It was to be reached by a steam ferryboat.
But none of these great plans ever came true. The Improvement Company went bankrupt. In 1875, they lost all of the properties they had bought. That was the end of the big business interests that had hoped to change the town.

ICE
Do you ever go ice skating on the lakes or ponds in the winter? If you had lived many years ago, you would have found that winter ice had another very important use. People hoped for good thick ice not to skate on, but to sell. Cutting ice was a big business in this area.
Before electric refrigerators were invented, ice boxes were the only way people could keep their food from spoiling. Because Mahopac had a fresh, clear lake and a railroad track running nearby, it was a big supplier of ice for New York City. The Knickerbocker Ice Company had a huge icehouse here. This building was located near the railroad tracks west of the Mahopac Fire Department property.
The ice was cut on Lake Mahopac and the blocks were sent downhill on an open canal. This canal was 12 feet wide. It passed under East Lake Boulevard in the area between the Wendlyn Apartment buildings. The men started cutting the ice at the lake shore and because so much was needed, they worked all the way over to Petre Island. They cut off big chunks, 50 x 100 feet, and floated it to the canal. There it was cut up into smaller pieces. The ice was then stored in the ice house and in the summer, it was shipped by special railroad cars to the city.
All the resort hotels had their own ice houses. Filling ice houses provided work for many local people during the winter when they had no farm work to do.
Mahopac Falls also had an important ice house. The children in Red Mills sometimes skate on the pond that provided the ice. The broken dam that is still left there held the water back and the pond was much larger in those days.
Ice houses were built with double walls. Sawdust was put between the walls for insulation. After the blocks of ice were piled up, the men put a thick layer of salted hay on top. This kept the ice from melting. The buildings usually had no windows and they were shut up tight to keep the inside as cold as possible.

THE KNICKERBOCKER ICE HOUSE
This ice house had ramps going around it. These ramps were slanted so that blocks of ice could slide down to the men who were loading the railroad cars. The ice was then taken to the city by train.
The building you see here burned down in 1910. It was replaced with a building that did not have ramps going around it.

LOGGING
Another important local business was logging. At first, sawmills were set up near streams for water power. After motors were invented, sawmills could be set up wherever they were needed.

FARMING
While the community around Lake Mahopac was the vacation center, most of the rest of this area remained farmland. Dairy cows were raised and milk was shipped for use in the cities. Apples were also an important crop, especially in Mahopac Falls.


LOCAL NEWS
Newspapers in 1915 carried the following stories. They can help to tell us about life in those days.
January 15 - "The sleet and rain storm of Tuesday and part of Wednesday, which was accompanied by a high wind, was very severe and did much damage. The ice business has had a setback as the storm flooded small ponds and wasted much ice."
"Chicken thieves are busy again. 29 were taken from the hennery of...last Thursday night."
January 22 - "The hen roost of...of Baldwin Place was visited on last Friday night and 39 fine fowls were taken."
January 29 - "The work of getting out lumber on the S.A. Anderson place is being rushed and lumber will be shipped as soon as the roads are settled. It is said that there is a two years supply of work to clear the lumber off this place and the London Bridge Woods."
The people of this vicinity were glad to hear that the chicken thieves and robbers were captured on Saturday and taken to jail."
February 5 - "The good sleighing of the past week brought out the trotting and pacing speed of the village. Several close brushes were enjoyed by the spectators."
August 20 - "On Friday evening, a dance will be given at the town hall..."
August 27 - "Concert at the Dean House...attended by a large number of summer guests at the hotels and cottages."

STONE QUARRIES
The hills of Mahopac held two kinds of minerals that people needed. First, there was the rock itself, which could be used for building material. At one time, two stone quarries were worked. A large granite quarry on Shindegan Hill provided beautiful, gray granite.
On Kennicut Hill, a quarry called the "Crow Hill Mine" was discovered in 1902. Quartz and feldspar were mined. There was also a rumor - perhaps just a hope - that gold might be found here. As far as we know, no one ever really found any, but they kept on hoping that they might.

IRON MINES
Hidden in the hills was another valuable material. It was iron ore. There were two iron mines in Mahopac. One was on Canopus Island and the other was north of Mahopac Falls near the corner of Bullet Hole Road and Hill Street.
The mine on Canopus Island was operated for only a few months in 1897 and 1898. It was called the Blackberry Mine or Grand Island Mine. The island was not called Canopus Island in those days.
The ore from the Blackberry Mine was taken on a ferry to the shore of the lake. It was then loaded on oxcarts and taken to Peekskill.
The other mine, which was opened in 1879, has a very interesting and exciting story. This mine was owned by a company from New York City which used the name of Mahopac Iron Ore Company. The mine was quite large and supplied a very high grade of ore. Over 100 men worked in these mines. The ore was used in New Jersey, at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and by other iron works in Pennsylvania and New York.
A railroad was built to the mines and the ore was taken out by train. The old railroad bed can still be seen as it crosses Hill Street near Bullet Hole Road. A small station stood on Stokum Avenue nearby and the stop was known as the Mahopac Mines Station. Milk was also shipped here from the neighboring farms.
On the south side of Stokum Avenue was a turntable where the train engine turned around for the trip back. The track ran along the west side of Kirk Lake and crossed 6N on a wooden bridge near the place where the County Highway garage now stands.
A little community grew up near the mines. There was a boarding house and several homes for the miners. A school was built nearby.

THE MINES CAVE IN
All the people who once worked in the mines are gone now, but this is the story they told to the younger folks about what happened.
The company was given a large order. Just at this time, the shaft reached a spot where there was no ore. The ore in this mine was found in "pockets" and when a pocket was taken out, the men had to dig until they reached another one.
Orders were given to speed up the amount of ore being mined. Unfortunately, the man who was in charge made a very unwise decision. He gave orders that the big, thick posts of rock which had been left to hold up the ceiling of the mine, should be taken out.
Some of the men were working down under the ground when suddenly, those who were on the surface spotted something that means danger to a miner. Rats were running out and leaving the mine! Something had to be done! Someone had to warn the men in the shaft.
A man named Jenkins offered to go down. The miners scrambled out as quickly as they could. Some of them tore their fingernails on the rocks as they climbed to the surface. As the last man was about 20 feet from the opening, the roof of the shaft came crashing down! The force of the air from the mine blew him out to safety. Everyone was saved.
The mine was never reopened and the machinery and tools that the men left when they ran out are still buried under the ground.

THE END OF THE HOTELS
In 1878, the Gregory House burned. The Dewdrop was sunk. The other hotels continued and people still came in large numbers to spend quiet, happy days at the lake.
After the middle of the 1900's, Mahopac began to change. The remaining hotels were getting old. The summer resort business was no longer as important as it had been. One by one, the big wooden buildings began to meet the same fate. Fire destroyed the Baxter Hotel, the Thompson House, and most of the smaller, less known hotels. The old Forest House on West Lake Boulevard also burned, but it was replaced by a big, modern brick building. This brick building has also disappeared, giving way to large private homes on the lake.
Now, only the Dean House Estates are left where the once gracious Dean House Hotel stood. Only the memories are left of the grand and glorious days in the history of Lake Mahopac, a famous resort town.