SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Creating a Modern Wilderness Playground: The Transformation of the Adirondack State Park, 1920-1980 A Dissertation Presented by Jonathan David Anzalone to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University May 2012 Copyright by Jonathan David Anzalone 2012 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Jonathan David Anzalone We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Christopher Sellers – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor, Department of History Nancy Tomes – Chairperson of Defense Professor, Department of History Shirley Lim Associate Professor, Department of History Ann Norton Greene Adjunct Assistant Professor and Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies, Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Charles Taber Interim Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Creating a Modern Wilderness Playground: The Transformation of the Adirondack State Park, 1920-1980 by Jonathan David Anzalone Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University 2012 My dissertation examines the ways in which the construction of elaborate recreational facilities and the implementation of urban planning in the Adirondack Park had profound impacts on the region’s woodlands and rural communities. Park-making, I argue, was not a nostalgic endeavor to preserve an unchanging wilderness, but rather a collaborative effort by state administrators, caretakers, private developers, residents, and recreation seekers to modernize the Adirondacks. Planners’ notion of recreation as a set of wholesome activities pursued by urban and suburban families in an unthreatening environment significantly shaped their approach to park development. After World War I, administrators began offering visitors not only paths to and through the Adirondacks, but also modern facilities to ensure their healthful play. During the 1920s, amenity-rich campsites began to provide vacationers with a large measure of comfort in the state Forest Preserve. As host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, the tiny Village of Lake Placid simulated a crowded city in which indoor and outdoor play was buttressed by new infrastructure. Beginning in 1935, Whiteface Mountain Highway made an almost-mile-high peak accessible to thousands of motorists, and paved the way for two ski centers on the mountain. Proposals to build massive vacation-home enclaves during the early 1970s highlighted once again the flexibility of modern recreation, as developers searched for new ways to turn a profit from the Adirondack playground. Building recreational facilities that were intended to protect vacationers from the dangers of the wild and to balance competing human demands required intricate land-management schemes which tied the North Country closely to surrounding cities. These plans, and the environmental changes they brought about, created rifts among New Yorkers that, when examined closely, complicate our understanding of 20th-century iii environmental politics. The dynamics of class, economic self-interest, state power, and environmental consciousness yielded a complex set of responses to developments that transformed Adirondackers’ communities and vacationers’ leisure-time destinations. The Adirondack Park was not a static wilderness, for its shape was contingent upon the plans of politicians and state administrators, the designs of businesspeople, the whims of residents and recreation seekers, and the environment’s ecological dynamism. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….….…vii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1 Primary Sources and Literature Review…………………………………………………..2 Chapter Summary………………………………………………………………………..12 Chapter 1: Olympic Transformations, Part I: The Re-creation of Recreation and the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid Introduction……………………………………………………………………………....16 Toward an Olympic Transformation: The Re-creation of Recreation in New York State… ……………………………………………………………………………………………17 The “Modern Interpretation” of “Forever Wild”: The III Winter Olympic Games……..24 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….32 Chapter 2: Cities of Tents: Development of Adirondack Campgrounds during the Interwar Years Introduction…………………………………………………………………….……...…34 The Modernization of Forest Preserve Campsites…………..…………………………...35 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….....49 Chapter 3: A Mountain to Climb: The Transformation of Whiteface Mountain and the Future of the Adirondacks, 1925-1945 Introduction……………………………………………………………………….……...51 Constructing Whiteface Highway………………………………………………….…….52 To Ski or Not to Ski: Toward a “Skier’s Paradise” on Whiteface Mountain……….…...59 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….64 Chapter 4: A Mountain for All Seasons? New York and Skiing on Whiteface Mountain Introduction……………………………………………………………………….……...66 The Icy Slope to Ruin: The Cautionary Tale of Marble Mountain Ski Center……......…67 A “Most Crushing Rejection of Nature”: Developing Little Whiteface……….……..….72 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………....….82 Chapter 5: Adirondack Sprawl: From the Northway to the Creation of the Adirondack Park Agency, 1959-1972 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..….….83 Which Way the Northway? The Debate over a New Adirondack Highway………...…..84 Campground Sprawl: Coping with Success at State Campsites…………………..….….89 Changing Course: The Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks... …………….……………………………………………………………………..……….93 v The Birth of the Adirondack Park Agency………………………………………….….102 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...105 Chapter 6: “Battle of the North Country”: The Struggle over a Suburbanizing Adirondack Park, 1971-1980 Introduction……………………………………………………………………….…….106 The Horizon Corporation and the Race for Open Space in the Adirondacks………......108 Corporate Land Management vs. State Regulation: The Case of Ton-Da-Lay………...111 Environmental Protection or Tyranny? The APA vs. Ton-Da-Lay………………….....124 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...131 Chapter 7: Olympic Transformations, Part II: The 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid Introduction………………………………………………………………………….….133 “A Modern Survival Technique”: Toward the XIII Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid……………………………………………………………………..…………..…134 “Damn Ugly”: The Ski-Jump Controversy…………………………………….…….…141 “We Didn’t Expect Things to Happen This Way”: Urbanization and Its Discontents....151 Conclusion………………………………………………………...……………………154 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….…….156 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………...…160 vi Acknowledgments I have incurred many debts while working on this project. I must begin by thanking the members of my dissertation committee, who provided indispensable guidance throughout the process of researching and writing this dissertation. My advisor, Christopher Sellers, constantly pushed me to be bold with my claims, and my work is stronger as a result. Nancy Tomes and Shirley Lim helped me sharpen my ideas and find new ways to connect my work with other historical fields. My outside reader, Ann Norton Greene, was kind enough to chat with me about a conference paper I had presented, which was only the first of many times she has posed important questions about my work. I would be remiss if I did not thank the many archivists and librarians who helped me track down and sift through the archives. Jerry Pepper was a pleasant and knowledgeable guide through the collections of the Adirondack Museum Library. Dr. Jim Folts and his staff at the New York State Archives were very helpful. I am also grateful to the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, which awarded me the Larry J. Hackman Research Residency to help defray the cost of my research trips to Albany. This project would not have been possible without the help of the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack Park Agency, whose staffs responded to my Freedom of Information Law request by laboriously sifting through, scanning, and sending a boatload of essential documents. I also received valuable assistance from the staffs at the New York Public Library and the Stony Brook University Library. Among my colleagues, I must single out Jeff Hall, whose excellence as a historian is exceeded by his generosity as a friend. Jeff was very generous in collecting and sharing sources he acquired during his trips to the Adirondacks. Jeff’s perspective as a North Country native was indispensable, and he was always willing to listen to my ideas (even the most ridiculous ones), read my drafts, and offer input. Some of the best ideas in the following pages belong to him, but I refuse to identify them in the hope that he will forget and I can take full credit. Even with Jeff’s help, words no doubt fail me throughout this dissertation; and, indeed, they cannot possibly convey my gratitude toward my family. Though in their far superior wisdom, spending nine years pursuing a Ph.D. on a pauper’s salary seemed to be a strange notion, they never wavered in their support. My siblings, Nick,