Top 10 Deserted and Forgotten Towns in New York
Conklingville, NY:when the nearby Great Sacandaga Lake became too unruly to handle, a mandatory evacuation of the small town occurred to create an earthen dam that held the water back.
North and South Brother Islands, NY:North Brother Island housed the Riverside Hospital, an institution used to treat and isolate the victims of smallpox. The hospital remained in use until the mid-1950s.
Delta, NY:Only a few years after its founding, the new towns that popped up around Delta fractured the new town’s population. Soon, many people moved away.
Doanesburgh, NY:No one knows much about Doanesburgh. Located in Putnam County, all that history says about the small village includes its establishement in 1839 by Benjamin Doane.
Love Canal, NY:Ten years later, Hooker Chemical Company bought the land and began to use it as a dump site themselves, this time for chemical byproducts.
Jayville, NY:Despite a rocky start, mining did thrive in the decade of 1880 to 1890 when the Carthage and Adirondack railroad ran into the hamlet of Jayville.
Dicktown, NY:Located in today’s Putnam County, not much is known about the founding of the ghost town named Dicktown. Besides the fact that a hamlet existed in the region at some point, Dicktown is shrouded in mystery.
Johnsontown, NY:Only a few decades later, the commission destroyed Johnsontown, along with a dozen other small communities, to turn the land into recreational park land.
Kensico, NY: A few years later, four intoxicated labor men assaulted one of the town’s bartenders at the Joseph Reed Hotel in the city. Just a few months later, a resident farmer died from injuries obtained outside of town.
Elko, NY:The dam, meant to control the flooding of the Allegheny River in Warren County, Pennsylvania, and Cattaraugus County, New York, brought drought control and hydroelectric power production to the area.