Town of Jay
Home of the Covered Bridge
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When the town filed application to be set off from Willsborough in 1797, it was known as Mallory's Bush for one of its earliest permanent settlers, Nathaniel Mallory. Settlements grew quickly along the river and on the plateaus. Lumber was plentiful, iron was available in the ground, and the soil was "vigorous and fertile." The hamelt of Jay was the first to be settled. It is here that Mallory built his forge. By 1812, Jay had a school, its own doctors, and a man on horseback who brought in the daily paper. Early forges, gristmills and sawmills, were constructed. The earliest successful business was lumbering. Huge spars were taken from the Jay forests and dragged by oxen or floated on the river to Lake Champlain and sold to the English market in Canada for the War of 1812. By 1820 the lumber in the Upper Jay market was exhausted by commercial harvesting and settlers clearing land. As lumbering flourished in the forests, industrial development was growning in Au Sable Forks. An entire town began to develop in Au Sable Forks around the lumber and forging business. The brothers Rogers acquired ownership in 1846 and bought Purmont's forge in Jay, the original Mallory's forge. Jay has broad fields, and open vistas. The pastoral landscape was first developed as an iron ore processing community. The ore came from the Arnold Bed and the Palmer Hill mines. When the mining industry closed, the J. & J. Rogers company converted its machinery to process wood and pulp. Au Sable Forks, where the two branches of the river converge, was a large and thriving community, but a one industry town. Though not at the levels of the past, Jay continues to house one of the largest private employers in the county in the Ward Lumber Company. The first image of Jay is often a view of the river running through the landscape. Out of the High Peaks the AuSable River tumbles through Keene, and is joined by numerous streams and freshets as it spreads itself out over the Jay fields. Early annual log drives scoured its bottom and cleared its banks. Now the rver becomes wider and shallower each year. The river empties into Lake Champlain at Plattsburgh. It was once the principle highway and power source for the communities along its banks. Changing times and needs, the continuing problems of transportation and the opening of miles in the west, have all affected Au Sable Forks industry. The tremendous floods that wiped out all of the bridges at on time or another, still occur. Ice jams form at bends in the river. The jams release like a breaking dam, causing the river to pour through houses, over roads, carrying huge chunks of ice with it. In 1999, an entire section of Au Sable Forks, known as The Grove, was bought out with money from the Federal Emergency Management Act, due to the entensive flood damage. The river, which has had its role in the successes and disasters that have struck the town, demolished Jay's most unusual attraction, The Land Of Make Believe. The theme park with miniature houses that illustrated specific professions, was situated on a curve in the river in Upper Jay. Floods tore away at the park, three floods in its last year of operation. Opened in 1954, it gave up its fight against the river and closed in 1980. Buildings by Arto Monaco, its talanted designer, remain at Storytown and Santa's Workshop. Town of 1800 Ezekiel Lockwood 1862 George S. Potter 1801-1802 John Cochrane 1863-1867 Gardner Pohe 1803 John Douglass 1868-1869 Henry Smith 1804-1805 Robert Otis 1870-1872 Henry D. Graves 1806-1807 Ely Stone 1873 Gardner Pohe 1808-1811 Joseph Storrs 1874-1875 Henry M. Prime 1812 Jonas B. Wood 1876 Richard D. Mc Intyre 1813-1815 Joseph Storrs 1877 Henry Smith 1816 William Finch 1878 A.S. Prime 1817-1818 Reuben Sanford 1879-1880 Amos Bosley 1819 Joseph Storrs 1881 Spencer G. Prime 1820 Reuben Sanford 1882 John C. DeKalb 1821-1826 Joseph Storrs 1883-1884 Silas W. Prime 1827 William Wells 1885 Fred E. Trumbull 1828 Joseph Storrs 1886-1888 Louis F. Robare 1829 William Wells 1889-1890 Eugene S. Parmerter 1830-1831 Isaac Vanderwarker 1891-1892 F.O. Bartlett 1832-1836 Joseph Storrs 1893 Fred C. Mihill 1837 Thomas Brewster 1894-1895 Richard L. Trumbull 1838 Joseph Storrs 1896-1897 Amos Bosley 1839 Josiah W. Hewitt 1898 E.W. Featherston 1840 John Purmort 1899-1908 Charles H. Cutler 1841 Jesse Tobey, Jr. 1909-1913 Raymond T. Kenyon 1842-1843 Benjamin Wells 1914-1935 Fred A. Torrance 1844 Josiah W. Hewitt 1936-1952 Dr. J.D. Smith 1845-1846 William H. Butrick 1953-1965 Dr. J.W. Scott 1847-1848 Daniel Blish 1966-1972 Arthur J. Douglas 1849 Thomas D. Trumbull 1973-1980 Thomas A. Douglas 1850 Samuel West 1980-1991 Paul Savage 1851 Thomas D. Trumbull 1992-1997 Vern McDonald 1852 Daniel Blish 1998-1999 Thomas A. Douglas 1853 Monroe Hall 2000 Dorothy E.Madden 1854 Herman G. Powers 2001-2003 Thomas A. O'Neill 1855 Jermiah B. Briggs 2004-Present Randall T. Douglas 1856 Samuel West 1857-1859 Nathaniel C. Boynton 1860 Henry D. Graves 1861 Nathaniel C. Boynton The Jay Website is dedicated In Memory of : Supervisor Thomas Douglas 1972-1980 & 1998-2000 (Whose Original Encouragment and Vision Helped Make This Website Project A Reality For The Townspeople of Jay) & Special Thanks To Terry Young, Original Town of Jay Web Designer & Counciperson Amy Shalton for making Former Supervisor Thomas Douglas' Website Exis Special Thanks to Jaime Rose Douglass, Susan Richards and Carol Hackel for Enhancing the "New Face" of the Town of Jay Website