History Center Displays (north wall I)
On the north wall, the first two displays are Gilboa Village and The Reservoir.
Gilboa Village
When you’re facing north (away from Route 990V), the first bay coming into our History Center room is dedicated to the village of Gilboa in the 1910s. This is one of the three areas in the museum most popular with our patrons (the other two being natural science and the construction of the reservoir).
In the village, the main display is a very well developed description of aspects of village at that time. It is a delightful mix of the more formal Board of Water Supply photographs and pictures from personal family archives. That area may be revised at some point, but it is basically a constant for the museum.
There is a new display on the wall to the right of that area that illustrates the disaster fires could wreak in a village in 1890, and defining the left side of the village area is a case displaying artifacts of that community before the reservoir.
Our presentation of Gilboa Village is our ideal for permanent topics of Gilboa Museum and the Nicholas J. Juried History Center: the theme will be interesting and well developed, and with interesting sidebar materials to keep returning patrons interested in what is new.
Across the room on the research table is a black box containing the tax maps and property rolls of that time, followed by our collection of photographs of properties in the village. These are the Board of Water Supply photographs that were used in establishing repayment costs for property under eminent domain.
As a sidebar on Nick Juried: Nick is an avid stamp collector and has written several articles and papers on specific post offices and periods. However, we have not found examples for him. If you have old postcards or envelopes relating to Gilboa, please let us know so we can try to fill this gap in our collection.
The Reservoir
Board of Water Supply Books
On the shelves in The Reservoir section of the center is a collection of the annual reports from the Board of Water Supply for 1904-1927. These annual diaries chronologically report all activities of the BWS and have a lot of photographs.
We have scanned all these books and can supply DVDs of them on request (we have not yet made professional masters and created a commercial product).
One major deficiency of these books: they have a lot of financial tables printed on very thin paper and then folded and tabbed into place in the books. This paper is very fragile and we have been afraid of scanning them: the CDs do not have the financial information, and we cannot let these books be used or damaged.
The scans of these books in pictures are used in this display and in the looseleaf blinders on the shelves.
Looseleaf binders
The five looseleaf binders were originally filled purely with information from the BWS annual reports.
Using our scans, we have taken all relevant information out of the BWS reports topically and arranged it in these binders under five headings:
- Why Gilboa: Information from the Board of Water Supply reports relating to the selection of Gilboa as the site for the projected Schoharie Reservoir, and we are integrating it with information from David Hammack’s Power and Society: Greater New York at the turn-of-the-century.
- Infrastructure: The planning and construction needed before the actual building of the dam and tunnel could be started.
- Shandaken Tunnel: The Shandaken tunnel, a little over 18 miles in length to gravity feed water from the Schoharie reservoir to the Esopus Creek
- Dam Construction: construction of the dam did not start until 2019, giving the infrastructure and tunnel a two-year head start. This section will also cover the finishing work through 1927
- Dam Maintenance, 1927-2000
- Dam Restoration, 2000-
These volumes are all in infancy, and will have Board of Water Supply photographs integrated with local stories and photographs. They will eventually be published by the Gilboa Historical Society Press.
We ARE open during daylight hours! SPECIAL TOURS can be set up by calling (607) 652-2665, (607) 588-9413, or (607) 588-6267
MUSEUM IS SEASONALLY OPEN WEEKENDS 12–4:30 pm from Memorial Day through Columbus Day.
GHS Board Meetings
are in the Gilboa Museum on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 1:00.
General Membership Meetings are on the 3rd Wednesday of each month March through December. A short business meeting starts at 6:00; ends at 6:30; and the guest speaker starts at 6:45. Indoors or outside, depending on the weather.
For INDOOR events, please be prepared to wear masks on request and observe distance between strangers.
OUTDOOR events have no Covid-related limitations.
2023 ACTIVITIES
March 2023
02 Family private Tour-on Call
15 At 6 pm, General Membership bus. mtg; refreshments; speaker and topic at 7:pm NYC DEP on new Reservoir Overlook, underground release, and other coming work on the Schoharie Reservoir.
22 Board meeting, 1:00
April 2023
Fundraiser for psychics lecture TBD
04 Franklin School class Tour-on Call
19 At 6 pm, General Membership bus. mtg; refreshments; speaker and topic at 7:pm TBA
26 Board meeting, 1:00
May 2023
04 Family private Tour-on Call and fossil hunt in Schoharie Creek
17 At 6 pm, General Membership bus. mtg; refreshments; speaker and topic at 7:pm TBA
18 G-CCS 5th grade class Tour-on Call
24 Board meeting, 1:00
27 Opening of the regular Gilboa Museum season with a live performance with Reggie Harris
June 2023
10 Gilboafest & Catskill Conquest Rally. Daylong festival, please keep tuned!
21 General Membership meeting, 6 p.m. Shopping Bag Auction, refreshments.
28 Board meeting, 1:00
July 2023
16 19 At 6 pm, Field trip to the C.S. Best House and Medical Museum.
16 Psychic Fair I (Rain Date 7/23)
19 General Membership program: Field trip to Best House, 6 p.m.
22 Artist Clover Archer’s presentation at 1:00 on her genealogical display of the Stryker Family.
26 Board meeting, 1:00
August 2023
16 General Membership meeting, 6 p.m. Ice Cream Social and FisherCats, refreshments by Stewart Shops
23 Board meeting, 1:00
September 2023
10 Psychic Fair II (Rain Date 9/17)
12 Conesville Historical Society private Tour-on Call
20 General Membership meeting, 6 p.m. Canal Street Strings, refreshments
27 Board meeting, 1:00
October 2023
8 End of regular season of open weekends at the Gilboa Museum
11 National Fossil Day
18 At 6 pm, General Membership bus. mtg and election of board members; refreshments; speaker and topic at 7:pm TBA
25 Board meeting, 1:00
November 2023
12 Holiday Fair and Boutique, 11–4:
15 At 6 pm, General Membership bus. mtg; refreshments; speaker and topic at 7:pm TBA
29 Board meeting, 1:00 (5th Wednesday to clear Thanksgiving week)
December 2023
13 At 6 pm, Raffle & Bottle Auction, refreshments (2nd Wednesday to clear pre-Christmas)
27 Board meeting, 1:00 p.m.
Unlinked pages are under construction.√
GHS Facebook page
Gilboa Fossils, a site of the Gilboa Historical Society
A full featured long playing video of the Gilboa Museum by Kristen Wyckoff.
Gilboa Historical Society
GHS Home Page
GHS History
GHS Founders
GHS Support
Our First Decade
Plans for Expansion
History Center Displays I
History Center Displays II
History Center South Wall
Cultural & Natural History
Our Tri-County Community
GHS in the 2020s
GHS Activities
GHS Psychic Fair I
GHS Ice Cream Social & FisherCats
GHS Boutique with Psychics
GHS Facilities
Who We Are, our organization
GHS Board of Directors
GHS By-Laws
GHS Board Minutes
GHS Committees
GHS Endowment
Map to the GHS Complex
Our Publications
GHS Quarterlies
Tri-County Historical Views
Podcasts from Historical Views
GHS YouTube Channel
Gilboa geography in 1915
Valley and Village
Gilboa Valley
Gilboa Village
Retail stores
Retail services
Residences and small farms
Iron bridge area west of creek
Iron bridge area east of creek
Church Hill
Gilboa property database (photos and information on properties searchable by individual, family, or neighborhood) under construction.
Schoharie Reservoir, 1904–
Plans leading to Gilboa Reservoir
Why Gilboa?
Construction Infrastructure
Materials
Stream Control
Shandaken Tunnel
Intake House
Scrubbing the Valley
Dam and berm
Maintenance 1927–2000
Board of Water Supply resources
Communications between you and the GHS is key to your enjoyment and our success. Underlying this linkage is a secure, local database that stores only as much of your information as you are comfortable with sharing. If you want to keep in touch with us only via email and are not comfortable sharing more information, please send us your email address on this form.
Our annual membership is based on an anniversary date established when we process your check. A renewal would simply add 12 months to the projected expiration date, while lapsed memberships are seen as new ones without penalty for the lapse.
Member benefits
- All GHS Newsletters and mailings.
- Gift shop discounts of 10% on all sales.