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Temple Beth El/Agudath Achim Cemetery
Brewers Creek
Old brick gate of the former brewery
Temple Beth El / Agudath Achim Cemetery
Brewer's Creek
Old brick gate of the former brewery
The Hollow, also called Reservoir View, was a sizable black community. The neighborhood was first located in the western hollow (Brewer's Hollow) for more than twenty years until the residents were forcibly relocated to the eastern hollow (Orange Hollow) along Maiden Creek, when the dam was constructed on Brewer's Creek for Reservoir #1. Today, the Hollow is a resential neighborhood along Lower Reservoir Avenue and along Maiden Lane and Orange Street. Surrounded by the Allegeheny Plateau (Point Peter to the West, Brewer's Hill on the north and Shultz Hill to the East) and with the sound of the two creeks, it has the feel of a small mountain village within city limits. At the end of Reservoir Avenue are several trailheads of the Watershed Park. At the end of Orange Street is the Tri State Rod and Gun Club.
The Breweries
Near the entrance to the filtration plant on Reservoir Avenue is the location of the Deer Park Brewery. By 1874, Fred Redeker (1825-1896) was operating a brewery at this location on what today is known as Brewer's Creek. Joseph Neubauer was opearting a brewery around the same time along nearby Maiden Creek. In 1892, Theodore P. Gilman, Richard Rinckwitz, John H. Heiselmann, Francis Louhr and Jacob Godtel were issued a charter for the Port Jervis Brewing Company. By 1893, the company was insolvent and in 1894 Gilman (pictured below with Andrew Carnegie) and Rinckwitz were arrested for securities fraud. Deer Park Brewery, the longest lived brewery in Port Jervis was organized in 1899 by George F. Ott, of Philadelphia. The Deer Park Brewery (pictured above) was located where the Redeker brewery was situated. Deer Park Brewery was closed in 1922 due to Prohibition, but was reopened by new owners after the repeal of Prohibition and continued operations until 1942. The original brick and steel gates of the brewery are still in place at the city’s filtration plant for the reservoir. The beer aging caverns have been sealed off, but still remain.
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