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Ridgewood Reservoir

Birch forest grows in the northeastern chamber

Marsh in center basin. Red building is one of two pumphouses

Ridgewood Reservoir is a decommissioned 19th century reservoir that sits on the Brooklyn-Queens border and is part of Highland Park. The reservoir and park are bounded on the north by the Jackie Robinson Parkway, on the south by Highland Boulevard, on the west by Vermont Place and on the east by Cypress Hills National Cemetery.

Construction
Decommissioning
External links
References

Construction

Ridgewood Reservoir was built by the City of Brooklyn, New York, which was rapidly outgrowing its local water supplies and a new reservoir at Mount Prospect. 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. ^[1]The new double reservoir was built in Snediker's Cornfield on a hilltop near Evergreen Cemetery in nearby Ridgewood, Queens and was sealed by puddling 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 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 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. ^[2]

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). 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. Late in the century, the conduit was extended to a large pumping station in Massapequa, some 30 miles (50 km) away. Efforts to extend it farther were thwarted by legislation protecting the water of Suffolk County. Force Tube Avenue, Conduit Boulevard, 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 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. ^[3]

Decommissioning

In 1898, Brooklyn merged with the City of Greater New York, 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 (now Baldwin) survived into the 21st century as ruins. Valley Stream State Park, Hempstead Lake State Park, and other South Shore 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 Brooklyn-Queens Greenway.

In 2004, the reservoir was officially turned over to the Department of Parks for more extensive integration into Highland Park. ^[2] In October 2007, the Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe quietly unveiled a contract to breach one of the reservoir basins and clear for new ball fields.^[4] 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. ^[5] There is an extensive community effort to keep the reservoir in its "natural" state as a nature preserve.