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Early History of the Mt. Kemble Lake Community

Adapted from Martha M. Gray, c. 1970

Originally published in The Review, Spring 2017, Volume 40, Number 1


Editor's note: Martha Gray lived at Mt. Kemble Lake from 1948 through 1979. She wrote her history around 1965 as an introduction for new MKL residents.



In 1927, four men from Irvington, New Jersey--Ike Casey, an engineer; John Dorer, a builder; Henry Bedford, a lawyer; and Harry Stanley, as businessman--established the Mt. Kemble Lake Community as a summer vacation resort and a retreat from strenuous city living. As this was purely a real estate venture, it was destined to change its character during the following precarious years. The initial plot map of the developement had 311 parcels, each of the 50-foot width, along seven roadways contemplated within the community.


It is notable that the four founders from Irvington chose to create homes in the community. During the Depression years, many people who had purchaged property at the lake found that they could not maintain two home. They sold their city homes and moved to the lake to establish permanent residence. This trend continued until the one-time summer resort became a year-round community.


Editor's note: reprinted below are two paragraphs from the 1928 Township Committee summary in the publication Harding Township (1922-1982), This History is Compiled to celebrate the Sixtieth Anniversary of Harding Township written by Dorothy Adey. Based on the phrase, "Several large farms were divided into small building lots. . . ," I think it is fair to conclude that the Mount Kemble Lake development had a noticeable impact on the land use history in Harding Township.


To protect the rural nature of Harding, members of the New Vernon Land Co. wrote the New Vernon Restrictive Land Agreement, a private endeavor with subscribers pledged to restrict commerical usage and division of property until 1965. A three-acre minimum was a written-in agreement but plot of at least ten acres were verbally agreed upon. This agreement was the forerunner of the Municipal Zoning Ordinance.


Several large farms were divided into small building lots and applications for a Pleasure Park, a Public Swimming Pool on Mt. Kemble Avenue along with a request to enlarge the Logansville Pottery, Bailey's Mill Road, into the New Vernon Fireworks Col, forced swift legal action to establish zoning codes for the Township. In 1930, a Zoning Commission was appointed: Howard Bayne, Chairman, Floyd Kilpatrick, Secretary, E. Hardenbough, Herbert Ballentyne, Towar Bates and Gilbert White. Herbert Swan [a well-known city planner] of NYC prepared [the] Ordinance and Zoning map establishing residential and business zones which restricted commerce to New Vernon center and Mt. Kemble Avenue. This early action sealed and preserved Harding's rural atmosphere which every resident enjoys today. Protest of nonconformity in zoning laws resulted in the Zoning Board of Adjustment: Herbert Ballentyne, Michael Huges, Leland Baird, A. Looby, S. Leonard and Newbury Goble.


The four gentlemen who had initiated the MKL project had worked long and wisely to set up the machinery for its operation, and that organization with all of its safeguards remains almost completely intact today. Three governing boards were established, each having its own particular functions yet remaining distinct from the others. The board were: 1) The Lake Shore Co. (four stockholders), charged with the responsibility for the real estate; 2) The Community Club, the governing body; and 3) The country Club, in charge of social events. Originally, the four founders (stockholders of the Lakeshore Company) were the directors of the Community Club, the control to be turned over to the residents after a certain number of lots had been sold. This goal, however, was never reached. Despite the fine rapport that existed between the developers and the residents at the time, there was a growing desire on the part of the residents to have more voice in the management of the community. Subsequently, responsibility for the affairs of the Country Club was delegated to the residents somewhate as an experiment.


By 1949-50, the community had gown to about 60 to 65 families. Several of the original developers had died and their holdings had passed into the hands of their heirs. Some of the residents began wondering if the real interest and concern for the welfare of the community showin in the beginning of the venture might diminish as this trend increased. And so a "Committee of 15" was set up to deal with people's concerns and possibly to go a step further and to arrange for purchase of all the assest of the Lakeshore Co. After the spadework had been done, the "Committee of 15" was dissolved and the "Committee of 7" was formed to work out all the details of the transfer and the machinery. Because of the wisdom and experience of the four original developers who had planned this organization it was retained with a few minor changes.


In 1950, when the new community structure was established, there were approximately 50 homeowners at Mount Kemble Lake (stockholders of Lakeshore Company) Today [2017] there are 96.


Editor's Note: In 2003, the HTHS presented a display of the history and configuration of the Mount Kemble Lake Community in the Culbertson museum space on the second floor of the Tunis-Ellicks House.

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