University Settlement Faces a New Future

by Karen Maserjian Shan

Last summer almost 150 kids attended summer camp at University Settlement’s Beacon site. In fact, kids have been camping at the Beacon campus for years.

Founded in New York City in 1886, University Settlement began as a means to provide for people in need. Nowadays, the Settlement offers early childhood services, youth and community programs, arts and other initiatives through various sites, including Beacon.

“It was a movement to help the immigration population settle into the area,” said Patrick Freeman, director of Beacon’s University Settlement site, located in the City’s southwestern corner.   

Originally, the land was part of a 250-acre donation to the University Settlement Society by the widow of General Joseph Howland in 1910. At the time, the land was used as a summer respite for people living in New York City, Freeman said. All but about 84 acres of land, the current campus size, were sold around the time of World War I.

Beginning perhaps as early as the 1930s, children began staying at the Beacon site for two to eight weeks of summer camp, Freeman said. Accommodations at the campus grew over time, initially from a single farmhouse to a dining hall, kitchen, theater, gym, swimming pool and sleeping cabins; buildings constructed in 1960s.

Strained by insufficient funding, the campus closed in 1989. Then, in the mid-1990s, to avoid having the City tax the property as an abandoned site, University Settlement partnered with New York City schools’ Breakaways initiative that sponsored inner-city kid’s participation in academic summer camps.

About that time the Dyson Foundation donated a $100,000 grant for the rehabilitation of the swimming pool, which had fallen into disrepair and become unusable. At the time an agreement was reached between the City of Beacon and Settlement officials in which the City would provide water for the pool in exchange for usage rights by summer campers attending City of Beacon programs. In the summer the pool is also open to the public in the evenings, Freeman said.

In 2001 the academic program was cut from the Beacon campus and the site went back to a more recreational summer schedule, with campers sponsored by private sources and foundations, Freeman said.

“It gave us a little bit more leeway to not have to do such an academic program,” Freeman said of the change.    

Last year 142 kids attended camp at the Beacon campus, including a local day camp for 4 to 12 year-olds and a residential camp for kids aged 8 to 12. Recently, however, University Settlement’s Beacon campus has run into financial and logistical difficulties that jeopardize its fate.       

Michael Zisser, executive director of University Settlement said the group has enjoyed an interactive relationship with Beacon for years. Even so, he said University Settlement is re-thinking the future of its Beacon site. One reason is the ongoing growth of University Settlement in New York City.

“As we do more and more down here, it gets more and more difficult to also maintain the program up there,” he said.

Another reason is that resources needed to fund, staff and run the program have been increasing difficult to secure.

“Camps are just more expensive and more complex to run these days than they used to be, and it’s true of the whole not-for-profit camp industry, not just for us,” Zisser said.

While the camp will be in session next summer, the group is looking for “the right kind of program to maximize the use of the site for us and for Beacon,” Zisser said.   

Among the options under consideration are winterizing the site for year-round use, securing an as-yet-untapped source for long-term funding and adopting a camp-wide specialty possibly with Dia:Beacon or the Rivers and Estuaries Center. A second thought is to sell the property. To that end, Zisser’s group has talked with the City of Beacon and Scenic Hudson regarding possible scenarios for such a sale, although the campus has not been put on the market. 

“The property is not up for sale right now. We are considering options for doing that,” Zisser said, adding they’re not following a particular schedule in deciding whether or not to change or sell the campus.   

“We’re happy to have discussions and would prefer to have discussion since we’ve been in Beacon for so long,” Zisser said. “So many interesting things are being considered.”   

Margery Gorten, senior land project manager for Scenic Hudson, said while Scenic Hudson executives have conferred with board members at University Settlement, no definitive plans or commitments have been made for the campus.

“The property has tremendous public value,” Gorten said, in terms of not only its open space and scenic beauty, but also the site’s swimming pool and theater. “If it does change we just hope that the City will be interested in exploring ways it can serve the community in the future. It’s such a difficult resource to replace.”

Beacon Mayor Clara Lou Gould said talks about the fate of the University Settlement campus have been ongoing.

“It’s a beautiful piece of property and it does have facilities on it that certainly would be beneficial for the City’s recreation use,” she said, including a theater, open field space, a gym and a swimming pool, the latter of which the City currently shares use of. Were the board at University Settlement open to sharing more of the campus, a possibility would be to use part of it for a senior center, Gould said.

“There are all kinds of possibilities,” Gould said.

But the campus’ future isn’t the only point of consideration. Its past is relevant, too, for Gould said according to one account, Henry Ward Beecher, the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, a mid-1800s author and anti-slavery advocate, stayed in one of the campus’ buildings for a time while he preached in Beacon’s Dutch Reformed Church, giving the site historic significance.

Fourth ward councilperson, Steve Gold, said the campus has served inner-city kids well.

“I’ve always been proud that thousands of inner-city youths have their first experience of camp life and the outdoors right here in Beacon,” he said.

At the same time, he said, it may be time for a change.

“I wouldn’t want to speculate as to the Settlement camp’s best use without the benefit of a complete, update to the city’s comprehensive plan,” Gold said.

Possible scenarios are to devote part of the land to parks, open space and/or the development of single family homes, although Gold said it would be logical to first conduct a study on how the development of such a large parcel would affect neighborhood density, the delivery of utility services, traffic flow and local schools.

“No decision, in my view, should be made until we’ve had a comprehensive look at the City’s current situation and since we have a committee that’s working on that right now, it would be foolhardy for the City to allow large development of land like this to simply go to the zoning that currently exists,” Gold said.

Deputy building inspector for the City of Beacon, Dave Buckley, said although the vast majority of the University Settlement campus is zoned for two-acre single-family homes, if the property was sold to a developer, it would have to undergo subdivision-approval before it could be developed.

Here, the developer would have to present his plan for the subdivision, including the development layout and studies on its environmental impact, roadways, drainage, infrastructure and such, all of which would have to be approved by the City engineer and planning consultants, Buckley said.

Regardless, Gold said the prospect of developing the University Settlement campus or changing it in any other way should wait until a careful consideration has been made of how it would affect the City.

“I think any development of the property should be put on hold until we have more information to be able to make the best decision for the City going forward,” Gold said. 

Comments

[billp]

all i ever seen com out of the camp in the summer was a hike in crime

[Former Resident - STurner]

I hope that the University Settlement property continues to serve the youth of the area.

While working with the kids at the Martin Luther King Cultural Center we had the opportunity to take the children to the Settlement's pool. It was something they could do on a hot summer day, and at a cost we could afford. The kids used to get so excited on Wednesdays when we would take the bus to the pool -we ALWAYS had perfect attendance on Wednesdays! They'd patiently wait on the front lawn for the bus and when it drove into sight the kids always let out a great cheer!!
(Staff too!)

PLEASE find a way to maintain the program so that the area youth can continue using this facility.

[Bronxboy]

I was a counselor at the Beacon campus in the early 60's. Pete Seeger came to sing for the children several times each summer. The kids were taken off the streets of NYC and given a chance to have clean air, a safe place and a chance to learn and grow with an excellent program. These were little kids -- none older than about 14. And the program was a very well planned and executed one. I'm sorry they're having difficulties. It's a worthwhile thing to do.

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[Alumni camper Monique(MOE)]

I remember those days when folk singer Pete Seeger would come sing songs with us at the campus in Beacon New York. I remember when you got sick or hurt from falling nurse Nancy would make you feel better. I remember a work leader named Hippy, a counseler named Dexter,Mimi and Rob etc... Those were the happiest days of my life, free from the hustle and bustle of the city. I will always cherish those 11 years I had with University Settlement Camp memories of my youth.Kubuya(1974-1985)

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103572251]

Among my fondest memories are the summers I spent at University Settlement Camp. Now, at age 63, there is never a time when I don't ache to return there!!! I will never forget the amazing fragrance of the pines near the Council House, the farm, climbing Mt. Beacon, the camp songs and of course the visits by Pete Seeger. One of my counselors, Jan Kransberg sticks in my mind. She was warm, gentle and kind and she taught me to love Gershwin when she played American In Paris during an arts and crafts session. Izzy Battino, the swiming instructor, was another bigger-than-life figure for me there. His huge smile, charisma and humor have stayed with me all these years. In short, University Settlement Camp was the best thing that ever happened to me as a child and will always remain in my heart. I yearn to go back there and once again smell that wonderful fragrance of the pine trees near the Council House. If only there was a way, I'd be back there at a moment's notice. Thank you!! My 3 weeks at University Settlement Camp were the greatest joy I ever got as a child!!!

[Jonathan]

The summers I spent at this camp were fantastic. I remember Hippie, and I remember Dexter.
My first counselors were KC and some other guy. The second was Steve and this spanish guy that was hysterical.

Does anyone remember Larry Bird....that guy that did all of those back flips?

It was great when Pete Seeger would come and sing, and play the banjo. It exposed me to elements that I would have never seen otherwise.

What bunks were you guys? I started out as an Upper Cardinal, the became a Lower Hawk, and eventually an Upper Eagle.

Made some great friends and had my first kiss underneath that HUGE tree that sat in the middle of that huge lawn.