The Suburban Oasis Built by a Thirsty City

The Suburban Oasis Built by a Thirsty City. Mill River Greenway Trail. , Hempstead Lake State Park, popular among anglers, boasts the largest freshwater lake in Nassau County. But its transformation into the park that has been enjoyed by millions of visitors took years to complete., In 1851, the Brooklyn Water Works Company, which needed to meet the water demands from rising population, found that Mill River's flowing streams were the most robust in the area, leading to the construction and use of water mills there until the 1870s. At that time, the water company bought the whole valley to build the Hempstead Storage Reservoir., The company spent $1.4 million to build the reservoir, but engineers found that the water seeped into the porous sand below. After all that trouble, Brooklyn began relying on the Catskills for its water supply, and, in 1925, with the building of Southern State Parkway, the reservoir officially became Hempstead Lake State Park., Where Is the Building Now? , As of August 2010, most of what was standing had been demolished, and as of 2019, nothing remains of the structure.