Noted area historian John Babina will speak on the construction and history of the Steveson dam.
The illustrated talk will feature many photos taken during construction.
Presented by the Oxford Historical Society on Sunday, January 15 at 2 p.m. at the Riverside Fire House, Babina will show the construction process which changed forever the Stevenson area of Oxford, Newtown, Monroe and Southbury.
The program is open the public.
Admission will be $3 or $5 per family. The society will provide refreshments and hopes for a large turnout to hear the history of this area site which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was built between 1917 and 1919 in response to electrical power needs for an area that was developing at a rapid rate.
Acting on an 1893 charter that granted it a franchise to build the dam, the Housatonic Power Company hired Crisfield Construction of Philadelphia to oversee construction of the project.
In 1918, with pumps diverting the waters of the Housatonic River, rail cars, men, oxen, and horses were used to transport materials between the railcars and the dam site.
The 10-mile-long Lake Zoar was created in 1919 by flooding when the dam was completed.
It had 27 miles of shoreline for new homes and vacation cottages and bungalows and 1,000 acres of surface area for recreational use, including private beaches and summer camps and boating.
Old newspaper articles regarding the construction and history of the dam will be featured on the Society’s Facebook page, during the weeks prior to the program.
Interested persons are encouraged to follow the page to learn more of the early history of the Stevenson/Zoar area. Information will also be available at http://www.oxford-historical-society.org.
In case of bad weather, a snow date of Feb. 12 has been set.
For more info, call Dottie DeBisschop 203 – 910-4574.
