Jamesville Reservoir
Jamesville Reservoir is a lake located by Jamesville, New York. The reservoir was created to provide water for the Erie Canal in the 1870s. Since at least the 1940s, it has been a popular recreational site. Onondaga County operates Jamesville Beach Park on the reservoir.
History
The creation of Jamesville Reservoir on Butternut Creek was approved by the Erie Canal Commission in 1872, and a dam completed by 1874. The Canal Commission intended the reservoir to supply the Erie Canal with water during dry months, estimating that it would be able to provide per minute for sixty days through a feeder canal near Orville. The final cost was $130,000, greater than the initial estimate, which was $100,000.In the early 20th-century, a company harvested ice from the Reservoir in the winter. By the 1940s, Jamesville Reservoir was a popular site for swimming, and Onondaga County began considering the development of a public beach. The Jamesville Beach Park officially opened on July 2, 1949, though initial work continued on the park for at least a year afterwards. The park was expanded in the 1960s, and again in 1996.