Decorative period lamp-posts that began going up today (see below) on the corner of the intersection now known as Broadway and St. John Street, across from the Sullivan County Court House, are not inconsistent with the style of lights that existed on Broadway in the late 1800s and early 1900s, until Broadway was destroyed by the most damaging fire in the county's history on August 9, 1909, depicted above in an antique postcard.
Above, at the corner then known as Main and Mill streets, earlier lamp posts are shown on the same corner as where new lights were put up today, in front of the once grand Hotel Rockwell, destroyed in the big fire. Alongside members of Delaware Valley Job Corps Center, working under the supervision of a licensed professional, Monticello Village Mayor Gordon Jenkins (in light blue shirt) and Village Trustee Carmen Rue (right in green jacket) stood to observe the occasion of the first light's erection on October 18, 2011.
It is not known whether the lamps shown above were of the old style gas-powered variety, or electric. The conflagration that destroyed Monticello in 1909 began at the Murray Electric Co., about two blocks from the above corner, then located on the present site of the Landfield Avenue Garage. The original antique lights shown above in all likelihood burned gas.
Debate over the style of lighting that makes Monticello's is not new. The lights being erected this week by members of Delaware Valley Job Corps Center in Callicoon, without authority from the village's legislative body, the Board of Trustees, were ordered deleted from the project by a former village manager who said he thought the electric bill for them would be too high, contributing to a delay in completion of the road work while the Department of Transportation re-worked the Broadway plans without lights, which the former village manager told DOT should be replaced with a brick meridian. Later, with the advocacy of Legislator Alan Sorensen (who took the color photo above), federal funds were obtained to restore the decorative lights the plan with funding channeled through Sullivan Renaissance. Legislator Sorensen was present at the above gathering, and took the photo.
In 1925, over a decade after the reconstruction of Broadway following the 1909 fire, members of the Monticello Board of Trade (including "boarding house keepers") held a meeting that was briefly reported in The Republican Watchman (May 5, 1925) under the headline, "What Kind Of Lights Do You Want Here - Meeting of Citizens to be Called to Decide Style of Lamp" (left). The lights discussed then were electrically powered. Photos from February 1914 show electric lights lining Broadway.
Village officials have the ability to choose when to use the extra lamps and when to conserve power.
Clicking on any of the above images will allow you to download a high-resolution version of each image.
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