New Sign Marks Historic 1891 Debut of East Branch Reservoir
- hollytoal
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
By Jack Alcott
Connor O’Reilly’s Eagle Scout project celebrates the 1891 opening of the East Branch Reservoir and Sodom Dam in Southeast.
A blue and gold historical sign – the result of O’Reilly’s research and work – was unveiled Nov. 23 during an afternoon ceremony at Milltown and Old Milltown roads. O’Reilly’s project included a thorough documentation of the dam and reservoir, which was all part of a vast 19th century engineering feat that brought fresh water to New York City.
Members of the Putnam County Italian American Social Club and President Randy Calano were key supporters of the historic sign project and were on hand to congratulate O’Reilly, who is a member of Somers Boy Scout Troop 228.
Putnam County Historian Jennifer Cassidy noted how important Italian-American laborers, stonemasons, and artisans – many of them immigrants – were to the successful construction of the Sodom Dam and reservoir complex. Many were injured and one Italian worker died in an accident at the dam site.
In fact, Italian immigrant workers played a key role in the building of NYC’s entire reservoir system.
The historical sign is adjacent to the parking lot at Milltown and Old Milltown roads and faces the reservoir. It’s not far from numerous huge blocks of stone that once belonged to a working mill on the Croton River in the 1800s.
Hundreds of acres of land were flooded by the dam and 21 homes, three saw and grist (grain) mills, along with a carriage factory and a sash and blind factory were all sent to a watery grave in the Sodom hamlet of old Southeast Centre.
A number of the homes and the surviving one-room Milltown schoolhouse were moved to higher ground along Milltown Road.
During times of drought and drawdowns, the old roads and foundations of the long-forgotten homes and mills rise ghostlike from the reservoir’s desolate bed.