Mountain Springs turns 100

The Mountain Springs community, located in West Milford’s Apshawa section, celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding with a gathering of current and former members, family and friends Saturday, July 20.

The centennial picnic, held at Mountain Springs lake, featured a variety of foods and desserts, party games and competitions, swimming, and commemorative items, including T-shirts, mugs, tumblers, and koozies adorned with a 100th anniversary logo.

The logo was designed by Jessica Edigio, an award-winning artist and daughter of Donna Egidio, who heads the community’s Lake Committee.

Donna Egidio was the lead organizer of the picnic. Her mother, Judy Dorph-Ocello, is the community’s treasurer.

Larry Foster, a member of one of Mountain Springs’ legacy families, produced a slide show with photos and text as well as displays of framed documents from the community’s history.

“Our 100th anniversary picnic was tremendous fun and brought together many people and memories that are the foundation of Mountain Springs,” Donna Egidio said. “It was a labor of love and an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of our community and the people who build it, including the Dorph family - my great-grandfather and grandfather among them.”

Foster recalled, “As kids, so many of us across generations grew up with Mountain Springs. This community is important to us, and we want to see it thrive in the future while keeping its past alive. It was a joy to bring so many people together for our 100th anniversary.”

During the picnic, flowers were presented to Betty Ann (Michelsen) Zeilnhofer, 87, and Ellen Foster, 96.

Ellen Foster also received a special commemorative T-shirt featuring a log cabin with the words “Original cabin girl” and a framed print of one of Jessica Egidio’s award-winning paintings, ‘Blueberries.”

Foster’s family built one of the original lakeside cabins in 1928; it still is owned by the family today.

Summer residences

In July 1924, Mountain Springs Inc., a New Jersey corporation, acquired much of the land around the lake to develop a summer residential community.

Its plan, laid out on maps approved by West Milford and filed with the Register of Deeds for Passaic County, was to create lots, private roads and areas around the lake for use by property owners.

The creation of Mountain Springs was fueled by Ed and Alma Boyd, the original property owners, who sought to develop the rural 53 acres.

The Boyds and other original residents sought to build a community wrapped around a small, existing pond that would become a two-acre lake by removing trees, stumps, rocks and soil and constructing a nearly 100-foot-long poured-concrete dam.

The Boyds purchased several additional tracts of land from Mountain Springs Inc. on Aug. 18, 1928, to advance the development effort.

Their original plan was to build about 70 summer cabins around the lake and adjacent areas. However, the 1929 stock market crash and ensuing economic depression scuttled those plans and the cabins were never built.

The corporation’s original signatories and trustees, in addition to the Boyds, included Dagfin Dorph, Clarance C. Johnson, Dorothea Marston, F.F. Pellett and Ernest K. Speiden.

Other families instrumental in building and expanding Mountain Springs in the early years included the Beaumonts, Blattners, Bodins, Cadigans, Carlsons, Dawsons, Dorphs, Downings, Fosters, Fultons, Garcias, Herricks, Jaegers, Joneses, Johnsons, Marstons, Millers, Michelsens, Molvigs, Pelletts, Perrellys, Sheridans, Steins, Van Loans, Sengs, Speidens, Steadmans, Sterns, Valentines, Zeilnhofers and Zelwillgers.