Ridgewood Reservoir
Encyclopedia
Jackie Robinson Parkway
The Jackie Robinson Parkway is a parkway in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The western terminus of the parkway is at Jamaica Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. It runs through Highland Park, along the north side of Ridgewood Reservoir, and through Forest Park...
, on the south by Highland Boulevard, on the west by Vermont Place and on the east by Cypress Hills National Cemetery.
Construction
Ridgewood Reservoir was built by the City of BrooklynHistory of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, which was rapidly outgrowing its local water supplies and a new reservoir at Mount Prospect
Mount Prospect Park
Mount Prospect Park is a park in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It includes Mount Prospect, the second highest point in Brooklyn. It is located on Eastern Parkway near Underhill Avenue, close to Grand Army Plaza...
. The original design of the Ridgewood Reservoir as well as the final specifications for the Brooklyn Water Works system was designed by Brooklyn civil engineer, Samuel McElroy. This original design called for three basins, however, later engineer J.P. Kirkwood altered the designs and instead built a double basin. The new double reservoir was built in Snediker's Cornfield on a hilltop near Evergreen Cemetery
Cemetery of the Evergreens, Brooklyn
The Cemetery of the Evergreens is a non-denominational cemetery in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, colloquially called Evergreen Cemetery. It was incorporated in 1849, not long after the passage of New York's Rural Cemetery Act spurred development of cemeteries outside Manhattan. For a time, it was...
in nearby Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
and was sealed by puddling
Puddling (engineering)
Puddle is a watertight material based on clay used in building and maintaining canals or reservoirs. Puddling is the process of lining the channel with puddle....
with clay and paving with stones. Ground was broken for the reservoir on July 11, 1856 and water was first raised on November 18, 1858.
Water from western Queens County was insufficient to keep the reservoir full, so a covered, vaulted aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
or conduit, a little more than three feet wide and four high (1 x 1.2 meters) was built to bring water several miles from Baisley Pond to a pumping station at Atlantic Avenue
Atlantic Avenue (New York City)
Atlantic Avenue is an important street in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It stretches from the Brooklyn waterfront on the East River all the way to Jamaica, Queens...
and Chestnut Street near the City Line. There, steam powered pumps with a capacity of 14 million gallons per day forced the water up through a reinforced tube into the high reservoir whence it was distributed. A third basin was added in 1863. By 1868 the Ridgewood Reservoir held an average of 154.4 million gallons daily, enough to supply the City of Brooklyn for ten days at that time.
Baisley Pond ultimately failed to keep up with growing demand, so new collection reservoirs were built, including Hempstead Lake, a new artificial lake in the Town of Hempstead in south central Queens County (now southwestern Nassau County
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
). Volume from Hempstead Lake was disappointing, due to the permeability of the sandy Long Island soil.
In subsequent decades the Brooklyn Water Works system was repeatedly expanded by adding wells and collection reservoirs, extending the conduit farther east, and adding pumps. Farmers in southern Queens County complained that Brooklyn's thirst was lowering the water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
. Late in the century, the conduit was extended to a large pumping station in Massapequa
Massapequa, New York
Massapequa is a hamlet located in the suburban Nassau County, New York. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 21,685.Massapequa is located on the South Shore of Long Island....
, some 30 miles (50 km) away. Efforts to extend it farther were thwarted by legislation protecting the water of Suffolk County
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
. Force Tube Avenue, Conduit Boulevard
Conduit Boulevard
Conduit Boulevard is an arterial road in New York City. The divided highway runs from Atlantic Avenue in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn to Hook Creek Boulevard in Rosedale, Queens at the Nassau County border...
, and Sunrise Highway were built, in part, atop the water conduit or within its right of way, early in the 20th century.
Highland Park, Brooklyn
Highland Park, Brooklyn
Highland Park is a park located on the Brooklyn-Queens border. The name is also applied to the Brooklyn neighborhood to its south, commonly regarded as part of the East NY neighborhood....
was created on land immediately surrounding Ridgewood Reservoir that was purchased by the City of Brooklyn in 1891 under the jurisdiction of the Highland Park Society. The park was constructed between 1901 and 1906 and included additional parcels purchased to the south and west.
Decommissioning
In 1898, Brooklyn merged with the City of Greater New YorkCity of Greater New York
The City of Greater New York was a term commonly used originally to refer to the expanded city created on January 1, 1898 by the incorporation into the city of Richmond County, Kings County, Queens County, and the eastern part of what is now called The Bronx...
, thus gaining access to the superior New York City water supply system. Ridgewood Reservoir was expensive to operate because of the need for pumping and was slowly made obsolete by expansion of New York City's Catskill and Delaware water systems. Ridgewood Reservoir became a backup reservoir in 1959 with the third basin being filled with water from the Catskill system. The reservoir was last used in a drought in the 1960s. During the 1970s the reservoir was the site of illegal swimming and a number of drownings. The reservoir was finally decommissioned and drained in 1989.
Some of the Nassau County pumping stations including the one at Milburn
Brooklyn Waterworks
The Brooklyn Waterworks, also known as the Milburn Pumping Station, was an historic building in Freeport, Long Island. Designed by noted Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman and completed in 1890, it was described as "Long Island's most ambitious Romanesque Revival design."After the Waterworks was...
(now Baldwin
Baldwin, Nassau County, New York
Baldwin is a hamlet located in the town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 24,033 at the 2010 census.Baldwin is also a station on the Babylon Branch of the Long Island Rail Road....
) survived into the 21st century as ruins. Valley Stream State Park
Valley Stream State Park
Valley Stream State Park is a state park located in Valley Stream, Nassau County, New York in the United States. The park is one of three state parks located in the Town of Hempstead and, like Hempstead Lake State Park, originated as a feeder reservoir for the Ridgewood Reservoir.The park is a...
, Hempstead Lake State Park
Hempstead Lake State Park
Hempstead Lake State Park is a state park located in West Hempstead, Nassau County, New York in the United States. The park is one of three state parks located within the Town of Hempstead. There is a quick-access entrance at exit 18 from the Southern State Parkway.The park contains three ponds...
, and other South Shore
South Shore (Long Island)
The South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York, is the area along Long Island's Atlantic Ocean shoreline. Though some consider the South Shore to include parts of Queens, particularly the beach communities in the Rockaways such as Belle Harbor, the term is generally used to refer to...
lakes and parks were originally Brooklyn Water Works reservoirs.
Following decommissioning and abandonment, the reservoir naturally became a small birch forest (one of the few on Long Island) with a grassy marsh in the center basin. The creation of this virtual nature sanctuary attracted a wide variety of fauna, including some rare species of birds. The bicycling trail around the reservoir perimeter became part of the 40 miles (64.4 km) Brooklyn-Queens Greenway
Brooklyn-Queens Greenway
The Brooklyn-Queens Greenway is a bicycling and pedestrian path connecting parks and roads in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, connecting Coney Island in the south to Fort Totten in the north, on Long Island Sound...
.
In 2004, the reservoir was officially turned over to the Department of Parks
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation is the department of government of the City of New York responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's...
for more extensive integration into Highland Park. In October 2007, the Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe quietly unveiled a contract to breach one of the reservoir basins and clear 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) for new ball fields. However, on June 26, 2008, NYC City Controller William C. Thompson, Jr. rejected that contract for the new development, citing concerns about the environmental impact, increased truck traffic, and the vendor selection process. There is an extensive community effort to keep the reservoir in its "natural" state as a nature preserve.