By BRUCE ROWLAND
(Editor's note: This is the first of two parts about the many times Point au Roche State Park was almost developed before land for a park was first acquired by the state in December 1974. Part two will appear in next Sunday's business section.)
Part 1. The Air Base effect, and the Headlands
BEEKMANTOWN — Point au Roche State Park could have been a densely packed, 400-unit complex of modular housing with municipal water and sewer systems, a sister development to Cumberland Head's Champlain Park.
It could have been an expansive vacation-home subdivision built by a major developer from the Poconos in Pennsylvania, spurred by publicity in a popular national magazine.
It could have been one of the elite recreational destinations on Lake Champlain with theme parks, a yacht club, golf courses, clubhouses, restaurants and lodging.
It could have been Plattsburgh Air Force Base.
It isn't. But it almost was.
"We're certainly very pleased it came into state control given some of the things that could have happened to it in the past," said Kevin Keith, regional director of the Thousand Islands Region of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. He listed the heavily used beach area, ice fishing at Deep Bay and the strong relationship with the Friends of Point au Roche State Park community support group as among its many assets.
"It's just a magnificent piece of property," he said. "It's busy year-round."
Today, hiking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing through the quiet, day-use-oriented, 840-acre facility on Lake Champlain just north of Plattsburgh, it's hard to imagine the things it could have been. Unless, of course, you trip over a manhole cover along an inexplicably blacktopped trail in an otherwise natural setting, or catch a ski tip on the top of a fire hydrant.
But the last vestiges of a sophisticated infrastructure system, unheard of outside the limits of a city or village in the North Country in the days before Point au Roche became a public park in June 1986, offer only one small clue to its history.
In fact, until the mid-1950s, the network of woods, meadows, promontories, bays and beaches largely existed in the pristine condition it's in today, mostly open space, noticed primarily by migrating waterfowl. It contained a loose patchwork of uses including a few summer residences, farms, two youth camps named Red Wing and Red Cloud, a massive largely undeveloped private estate and a few popular swimming spots used by locals, despite the fact they were on private land.
But around the mid-point of the last century, things changed in a big way.
In September 1951, the Cold War was raging. In need of a Strategic Air Command base in the Northeast, the U.S. Air Force completed its first inspection of the Plattsburgh area in its search for a site to house 30 to 45 medium or heavy bombers and 4,500 men and officers at a cost of $36,210,000.
The historic Plattsburgh barracks, with its existing brick administrative and residential buildings and tree-shaded parade grounds, was a natural place to investigate. But, after the end of World War II, the historic military complex had been declared surplus property and the government had given it to the state for the site of an "emergency college," with the stipulation that it would be returned to the military if needed for national defense.
In 1946, the 723-acre complex became Champlain College, and the thought of it ever reverting to the military was forgotten. When the Air Force chose it as a prime site for the new air base, the college was entrenched and integrated into the community with many influential supporters.
The Air Force's plan touched off a bitter protest. Political and civic leaders lined up contentiously on both sides, for or against the base, a controversy dubbed by the Press-Republican at the time as "what was undoubtedly the greatest battle in Plattsburgh since the War of 1812."
New site sought
A search for an alternative site was urged, with Point au Roche quickly rising to the top of a very short list that included the municipal airport, which would have to be moved at great expense, and the Fort Drum area near Watertown, which the Air Force viewed as a location unsuitable to fulfilling its mission.
"The runway was going to go right through our farm," said Willis Gonya, whose home on Point au Roche Road dates back to 1926 and whose property has been in the family for well over 100 years, citing information supplied to him at the time by Air Base Liaison Committee Chairman Clyde Lewis. Preferring to listen at night to honking snow geese rather than planes taking off and landing, Gonya was afraid he was going to lose it all.
"From this section of road, if you look up to Ingraham, it's just as flat as can be," he added, describing the terrain that would have been ideal for a flightline.
Study conducted
Early in 1952, a group of engineers did a detailed study for the Air Force, including taking test borings and soil samples at Point au Roche. But ultimately the Air Force preferred the Champlain College site — despite the charge by critics that it was merely due to the "plush quarters for officers" at the base oval. Opponents vowed that the college would never be sacrificed for the base, according to Press-Republican reports at the time.
The D&H; Railroad lined up against the Plattsburgh plan because its tracks would have to be relocated. Route 9 would also have to be rebuilt and safety issues of having such a large base so close to the city were raised.
"To build the base on the college site would be colossal stupidity from the standpoint of strategy, money and human safety," Rep. Clarence Kilburn, a Malone Republican and one of many influential opponents, said at the time in advocating for Point au Roche or some other location.
Barracks site favored
But Secretary of the Air Force Harold Talbott, calling Plattsburgh "the most necessary base we have in the Northeast," disagreed.
"The buildings there at Plattsburgh are worth a good many millions of dollars," he said at the time. "They have officers quarters and those houses. There is a big parade ground in the center. The place is very beautiful. The lake is 200 or 300 yards away. The facilities for swimming and all that are there, which adds so much to morale."
In February 1952, the Air Force decided it would not locate in the Plattsburgh area unless it could use the college site with its existing facilities including its housing and administrative quarters. In March of that year, Gov. Thomas Dewey announced he would ask the legislature to transfer Champlain College to the federal government so base construction could begin in the fall of 1952.
In a last-gasp nod to opponents, U.S. Rep. Jacob Javits tried to block an appropriations bill for base construction and require the Air Force to further study other sites such as Point au Roche, but it was defeated in June 1952.
The deal was sealed. The State Legislature authorized transfer of Champlain College students elsewhere if the state received $1.5 million in compensation, later reducing their demand to $400,000. Harpur College near Endicott was chosen for expansion to absorb the student body.
expansion proposed
An additional wing was proposed for the base with a total of 7,900 military personnel and 800 civilian employees. The estimated cost rose to $70 million. Ground for the base at the Plattsburgh location was broken in January 1954, ending the "greatest debate in the city's history," according to the Press-Republican.
"A living, vital college is now being closed," lamented Dean Amy Gilbert, speaking before 189 Champlain College graduates during the last commencement in June 1953.
However, while it wasn't selected as a site for the base, it was just the beginning of base-related development plans for what is now Point au Roche State Park.
In October 1954, a new housing corporation was organized in Plattsburgh lead by Alan Carnoy, head of Carnoy American Builders Inc. of White Plains. The firm's plans were "to build new homes for military and non-military residents of Plattsburgh who will come here when the new Plattsburgh Air Base starts operation," according to the Press-Republican. The group included local partners David Torrance of AuSable Forks and Theodore Kaufmann of Plattsburgh, and the plan nearly transformed Point au Roche.
Had many ambitions
Carnoy, a fervent patriot and military supporter, achieved business success by riding the post-World War II building boom in the suburbs of New York City. Known for constructing mass-scale, low-cost modular housing developments, he envisioned his efforts would bring home ownership within the financial grasp of everyday people.
"He was very much of a businessman," recalled Torrance, now 90. He invited us (he and Kaufmann) down to his complex in New York City. We were treated royally. He was a great spender, very outgoing and friendly. You couldn't help but like him."
In fact, Carnoy later expanded the scope of his business to include Latin America, where he believed bringing affordable housing to the masses would be an effective antidote to communism. However, these plans foundered as he ran up against bureaucracy, corruption and a lack of a mortgage-lending infrastructure there. It was a setback that — while the timeline is uncertain — may have later affected his North Country enterprises.
Carnoy first unveiled a plan for 10 new affordable homes, in the $10,000 range, on Tremblay Avenue in Plattsburgh, but that was just the beginning.
grand plan unveiled
In April 1955, with base construction assured, Carnoy, doing business locally as Clinton American Builders Inc., unveiled his grand plan — an 800-unit housing development with 400 homes on Cumberland Head and 400 at Point au Roche.
Carnoy acquired 151 acres of the Wesley Parker farm on Cumberland Head at a cost of about $75,000.
At Point au Roche, the development stars were lining up as well. The remaining portion of the John F. O'Brien estate, an expansive holding originally encompassing the bulk of what Point au Roche State Park encompasses today, came up for sale. O'Brien had died in 1927 and his wife, Elizabeth, passed away in 1954 leaving the estate to their heirs.
In 1888, O'Brien had risen to prominence in the wholesale flour business in Plattsburgh. In 1897, with a partner, he formed the O'Brien & Kellogg Dock and Coal Co. and acquired control of the docks and waterfront at Plattsburgh, conducting the largest wholesale flour, coal, feed and grain business in Northern New York.
entered political life
He was elected to the New York State Assembly from Clinton County in 1901 and became New York secretary of state from 1903 to 1906, when he was defeated for re-election. Afterwards, he resumed his business and was president of the Plattsburgh National Bank and Trust Co.
With its acreage largely undeveloped, the estate included a lavish home located in what is now just a clearing near the end of Short Point. The mansion had 26 rooms, according to the Press-Republican, and Gonya recalls it as having multiple stories, seven fireplaces and a boathouse on Middle Bay. It was the first residence on the point to have electricity, and some remember seeing it from St. Armands beach at night, all lit up using batteries and generators.
In fact, Gonya said, his great uncle helped build the home around the turn of the century and was credited with saving a co-worker when a basement wall collapsed. After its sale, it became abandoned, was plagued by vandalism and finally burned down.
camp land acquired
In 1936, not long after O'Brien's death, about 250 acres of the estate including Middle Point and most of Long Point, was sold to the Lamborn family of Maryland for $30,000 to form Camps Red Wing and Red Cloud, summer youth camps for girls and boys. The family deemed the acquisition necessary as their existing camps in Pennsylvania were being encroached upon by development.
Then, in 1955, following the death of Mrs. O'Brien, Carnoy announced plans to acquire 410 acres of the estate including 5,000 feet of shoreline and a 2,000-ft.sandy beach just east of St. Armands beach, including the O'Brien mansion. The acquisition price was said to be about $100,000.
On both Cumberland Head and Point au Roche, 400-home developments with municipal water and sewer systems were planned. The utilities were among the first of their kind in New York state to be built by a private company. Pre-fabricated units supplied by National Homes would be placed mostly on cement slabs.
The Cumberland Head development, where homes would be priced at about $10,000, was named Champlain Park. The Point au Roche plan, slightly upscale with six-room, two-bath homes and acre lots costing $19,000, with the O'Brien mansion serving as a community clubhouse, would be called Carnoy Park in honor of the company's owner.
work got harder
The Tremblay Avenue development began in January 1955 and proceeded successfully. But the development of Champlain Park, begun the following May, was not nearly as easy. In June 1955, union picketers protested the lack of union labor as the first three model homes were unveiled. Efforts to supply potable water suffered a setback when wells were found to be contaminated by sulfur.
"It was a hard job to get a water system up there," Torrance said. "It would smell terribly and it was unpalatable."
Carnoy created a water-treatment plant, but it was costly to operate and the technology of the day left much to be desired. For years after, complaints about water quality were a common theme. "It became a real liability to the Champlain Park residents to maintain that kind of facility," recalled Al Sweenor, former Town of Plattsburgh engineer.
Also at that time, the rules about dumping sewer effluent into the lake after minimal treatment were not as strict, even for 400 homes. The motto at the time, Sweenor said, was "the solution to pollution is dilution."
"It was nowhere near the requirements we have today," he said.
dumped in lake
All it took was a low-tech primary and secondary tank to settle out the solids, and the liquid could be discharged without further treatment. "The effluent was dumped in the lake," Torrance recalled.
At Point au Roche, tests were done and similar problems were feared. Ledge rock would make blasting necessary to install water and sewer lines. Still, by April 1955, Carnoy was able to advertise that model homes would be on display by July 15 and would be ready for occupancy Aug. 15 at Point au Roche.
"We were going to do the same thing as we did at Champlain Park," Torrance recalled.
But, in addition to the development obstacles, interest in the project did not meet expectations, and Carnoy had many other irons in the fire in the North Country and elsewhere. "The Point au Roche property was kind of forgotten," Torrance said. "Plattsburgh was a place not on the map like other places."
Costs mounted up
Ultimately, the project became cost prohibitive. "I don't think Alan had enough money to do anything with Point au Roche," Torrance concluded. "The financiers didn't show up with enough money."
In April 1956, Carnoy sold Champlain Park and the 41 homes already constructed for $185,000 to a group affiliated with Jerome Lieberthal, owner of Valcour Lodge, who said his intent was to finish Champlain Park and also buy the Point au Roche development along with Carnoy's interest in the 400-plus acres there. These housing plans were part of a $20 million grand design that included constructing North Country Shopping Center on Route 9 just north of Plattsburgh, which was recently demolished at the site of the new Cumberland 12 theater.
competition a factor
At the time, the shopping center was promoted as being the largest between Albany and Montreal with expansive retail space, garden apartments, a bowling ally, skating rink and medical office building. That project later ran into its own financial difficulties as it competed for tenants with a new shopping center being built on Upper Cornelia Street by Burlington developer Antonio Pomerleau, now called Plattsburgh Plaza, also part of the pre-Plattsburgh Air Force Base building boom.
The Lieberthal group didn't follow through with the Point au Roche acquisition, and in November 1958, the small parcel of the O'Brien estate that Carnoy actually had purchased was sold to Torrance and Kaufmann. "We were going to develop it," Torrance said. "We held it and waited for the right opportunity."
So, the deal for the 400-acre O'Brien tract was never consummated and the acreage was later sold to Robert Duley, developer of Fantasy Kingdom (see next week's story).
camp use ceased
But the push for a large-scale residential subdivision at Point au Roche was far from over. A 60-acre parcel with 2,000 feet of lake frontage in the northeastern section of what is now the park was owned by Carl Getman of Plattsburgh. Getman had purchased it from the Moore family in September 1944 with the stipulation that Margaret Jane Moore be provided a life lease in a home there, which was located on Point au Roche Road near the site of the current park maintenance building. Moore eventually moved to the Albany area and, according to Gonya, that home was later destroyed by fire.
"Actually, that was our Fire Department's first fire," said Gonya, a 40-year department veteran who missed being a founding member by a few months.
For years, Getman used the property for a family retreat, but by the early 1960s he had expressed interest in subdividing it to create summer camps. Also in the mid-'60s, Red Wing and Red Cloud were finally closed for good after decades as thriving camps.
new builder arrives
In February 1968, Getman sold his land to Wilderness Lodge Estates Inc. of Indian Lake, the local name of a company owned by G.H. Litts and Son Inc. from Stroudsburg, Pa. As Carnoy had built his business in the suburbs of New York City, Litts specialized in massive vacation and year-round-home subdivisions in the Poconos.
In the late '60s, according to Indian Lake Assessor and Code Enforcement Officer Meade Hutchins, Litts bought what was originally the Wilderness Lodge motel, cottage and restaurant complex there and proposed a large subdivision with a public water system at Big Brook. It would contain 150 lots on one side of a small lake controlled by a dam and a couple hundred more on the other side.
Problems with the dam developed, however, and Litts became overwhelmed trying to satisfy permit requirements from seven different agencies. "They never got the permits to rebuild the dam," Hutchins said. The lots that did sell attracted new residents to Indian Lake, but many local people were relieved that the large developments that characterized his enterprises in the Poconos never got a foothold in the Adirondacks.
Subdivision envisioned
In March 1968, another development shoe dropped in Point au Roche when the Lamborn family also sold Red Wing and Red Cloud including Middle Point and most of Long Point to Litts.
With the combined properties, doing business locally as Leisure Lands Real Estate, a plan was unveiled for a massive subdivision of vacation-home lots called the Headlands, with 72 parcels put up for sale in Phase I. Again, public water and sewer systems were proposed, the source of the municipal infrastructure features that can be seen today in the park along the Eastern Loops trail.
"A lot of Canadians were coming in at the time to buy," said Ralph Filion, who constructed a house in the subdivision for his brother, Francis, and his family. "I think they had 30 something lots promised or more."
featured in magazine
Former campers from Red Wing/Red Cloud also expressed interest in purchasing lots. The March 1969 issue of Woman's Day magazine featured a multi-page spread on prefabricated homes, showcasing the one Filion had built at the Headlands. "I was getting calls from all over the United states," Filion said.
Unfortunately, the Filion home was later destroyed by fire, a blaze Gonya recalls responding to. It was the only home Filion ever built in the subdivision, which soon foundered as it began encountering the same problems that dissuaded Carnoy.
"They didn't do test borings," said Bill Getman of Cumberland Head, Carl Getman's son. "They found ledge rock."
However, by that time, pressure was building on state officials to reclaim the land for a park. "The state came in and stopped the project," Filion recalled. "I don't know how they settled with the people."
Next week: A golf mecca, the county's mega plan and Fantasy Kingdom, the only development that was.
Bruce Rowland can be reached at browland1436@yahoo.com
