PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—”You are cordially invited to take part in the dedication exercises of the new reservoir of the Hackensack Water Company, which takes place Saturday, April 1.” So read an invitation sent to 500 residents of Hillsdale, Park Ridge, Westwood, Hackensack, Paterson, and New York at the end of March 1905.
The event promised music all afternoon, to be furnished by an ensemble called the Lirpa Band. Guests could expect speeches, a feast, and plenty of fanfare to mark the completion of a project that was two years in the making.
Since 1903, the water company had been building a new reservoir at Woodcliff, just north of the Hillsdale border, a project that would increase the water supply for a growing population in Bergen County. The region was shedding its rural roots and becoming a suburb, and it needed the infrastructure to match.
The Woodcliff Lake reservoir is not a natural body of water. Until the early 1900s, the land was farms and meadows, with the Pascack Brook flowing through them. Wagon roads bisected the fields and crossed the brook at stone bridges, connecting present-day Pascack Road and Broadway.
To create the reservoir, the Hackensack Water Company built a dam on the Pascack Brook, submerging the fields and old roads (the latter occasionally become visible when the reservoir is very low). Long before heavy machinery, the land was cleared and soil moved through the labors of 200 men, mostly Italian immigrants, who used hand shovels and horse-drawn wagons.
Over 120 years ago, when the work was in progress, the Park Ridge Local newspaper had this to report on Sept. 21, 1904: “People have been wondering how our local geography will appear when a lake at Woodcliff takes the place of what has for generations been dry ground, occupied by cultivated fields, houses, gardens, and roads. Last week the heavy rain covered large areas of the new reservoir site with water, and it was viewed with evident interest.”
Having received invitations to the dedication of the new reservoir, hundreds of people made their appearances on the afternoon of April 1, 1905, expecting to hear music and speeches and enjoy lunch. Many young ladies came dressed to the nines, to see and be seen at this important event. It was a large crowd, especially considering the population of Woodcliff at the time was 400 people.
They were shocked to discover that it was a huge joke—there was no celebration, and it was all an April Fool’s Day prank. The name of the band on the invitation was the word “April” spelled backward. A collection of local reporters, who had come to cover the exercises, were also duped.
It was never discovered who was behind this prank. We are left to wonder why he or she went to such great lengths, having sent out over 500 invitations, to pull it off.
Did you know: Before the building of the reservoir, the name of the borough was “Woodcliff.” However, the addition of the word “lake” was not just to celebrate the new topography. It had a practical purpose. There was another Woodcliff in Hudson County, on the Hudson River, and mail was continually being sent there by mistake. The new name “Woodcliff Lake” put an end to the postal problems