Association Island's History*

Early History:  1905 - 2002
Recent History:  2002 - Present, An Update on the Resort's Development

The history of Association Island is rich and deep.  After learning about key events in our history, you may recognize how many of our roads, buildings, and marinas are named with nostalgic reference to the island's past.  To skip down to "An Update on the Resort's Development" click here.

Association Island (and sister island, Showshoe Island)
before resort construction started in 1999.

Early History:  1905 - 2002

The National Electric Lamp Association (NELA) bought the island in 1905 from private owners and named the property Association Island.  NELA started the tradition of using the island for the Association's management meetings.  In 1911, General Electric acquired NELA and further expanded NELA's tradition by using Association Island as a corporate retreat and training center for GE executives, customers, and employees through the 1950's.   On the property were a Town Hall, Dining Hall (with full staff of waitresses and housekeepers), Black Catte (snack bar), Island House, bungalows, residential "huts", cottages, 9-hole golf course, recreational trap shooting, tennis court, shuffleboard courts, and marina with boat transportation  to/from the island.                                  

       
Left: page from promotional brochure "Camp Claverack" c1920s.  Right: the sitemap of Association Island in 1956.  Upper Right:  GE men all wearing their GE logo'd t-shirts socializing at the Black Catte, c1946.  Source:  historical memorabilia provided by Max Bovee, a local Adams, NY resident who worked at Association Island in 1956 and whose grandfather and father worked at Association Island in the 1920s to 1940s. 

GE's famous think-tank organization, the Elfun Society, was founded in 1928 at Association Island.  In honor of its birthplace, the famous elm tree at Association Island became the official logo of the Elfun Society.  Though the elm tree died in the 1970's, the elm tree logo is still used to this day.  Visit the Elfun Society's website (http://elfun.org/history/index.asp) to view many historical pictures of the island, or click on these links:  http://elfun.org/history/photos.asp, http://elfun.org/history/postcards.asp.  **We offer special discounts for Elfun Society members:  20% discounts for the months of May, June, September, and October and 10% discounts for the months of July and August.  (Discounts do not apply to holiday weekends and may not be combined with other discounts.)**

General Electric's use of Association Island has been the subject of many academic papers, and was even the inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, Player Piano, in 1952.  In the novel, Vonnegut writes of an island called “The Meadows” to which all of the engineers and managers of a large corporation make an annual retreat, to reaffirm devotion to the system and to become a more productive workforce.  Vonnegut depicts what went on at corporate retreats in the 1940’s and 1950’s as a satire of old boys at summer camp, using GE’s Association Island as its model.

In 1959, GE donated the island to the YMCA which operated the facilities until 1967 as a recreation center, managed by Richard Billings.  The YMCA developed a broad range of programs for vacationing families, youth conferences, senior citizens programs and numerous other groups.  His wife, Norma, has written a historical paper and a book about their experiences on Association Island - copies of her works are on sale in our convenience store.  Due to lack of funding, the YMCA closed the Island and put it up for sale.

In 1970, a non-profit called the Association Island Recreational Corporation (AIRC) formed to try to revitalize the property after the Y abandoned the property.  AIRC eventually purchased the island from the Y in 1973, at which point several sailing enthusiasts (including Charlie Wardwell of Sackets Harbor, NY and Van Allen Clark of Marion, MA and Bill Bentsen of Geneva, WI) formulated the idea of hosting sailing competitions at the island.  In 1974, Association Island was known as the North American Sailing Center, and in 1975 was the US Sailing Center.  From 1973-1976, Association Island was the location of numerous sailing and windsurfing competitions, and was home to the US Sailing Team in preparation for the 1976 Montréal Olympics, which held the Olympic sailing competitions on Lake Ontario, out of nearby Kingston. 

The regattas held at Association Island from 1973-1976 included the Thistle Class Nationals, Laser Class Nationals, Tempest World Championships in 1975, the Windsurfing Worlds in 1974, Sunfish North Americans, Comet Class Internationals, Albacore Worlds, US Youth Championship, and the US Olympic Trials for all six Olympic sailing classes.  After the Olympics, the island was abandoned, turned into a ghost town, and started to deteriorate from disuse.

Association Island is now privately owned and family operated.  In 1999, we started to actively rehabilitate the existing infrastructure and construct the resort facilities.  As you walk around the island today, many of the original NELA and GE buildings still stand and have been or will be restored.  Association Island RV Resort & Marina opened for business in May 2002, and we still continue to constantly improve our facilities today.   We are very proud of the island's past history as a recreational facility for corporate retreats, youth recreation, sporting events, and now as an upscale RV resort and marina.

Recent History:  2002 - Present
                           An Update on the Resort's Development

In 2002, we opened for business in May on half of the island (the lake-side) with 130 RV Sites, 76 Marina Docks, 1 Bathhouse, a Laundry Building and 2 Cottages, with limited amenities. 

In 2003, we opened 3 additional Cottages, opened the swimming pool, improved the road surface and RV pads on the lake-side, opened several harbor-side sites on a limited basis, and added activities (tai-chi, fishing derbies, live bands, & rock painting). 

For 2004, we opened 305 RV sites, improved the road surface and RV pads on the harbor-side, added a "hot spot" for broadband wireless internet access in June, added additional activities, and opened the "Island Bar and Grill" in July. 

For 2005, we opened the new Club House in late June.  The Club House has a TV room (to play DVDs and videos), a toddlers' play room, a ping pong room - these areas are open 7 am - 11 pm, bathroom & shower facilities open 24 hours a day, and laundry facilities.  We installed a security gate in July, improved the landscaping, and provided additional activities.  We added a toll-free number (800) 393-4189 that our Canadian (in addition to our US) customers can use.  Also, Niagara Mohawk completed the upgrade of the power line transmissions for the local area - to eliminate the capacity constraints that we faced in July 2004, and the Town Highway Department has widened and re-paved Snowshoe Road.

For 2006,  we added more wifi hotspots, extending wifi coverage to ~50% of the RV sites.  We obtained high ratings for 2007:  Trailer Life 8/9/8, and Woodalls top rankings 5W/5W.and continue improving the landscaping.  For the website, we've added photos of each type of rv site class, live bands during holidays and every Saturday in July & August (see our events schedule), and much more information on attractions in the local area. 

For 2007, we achieved 3 major milestones:  1) we paved our roads (via the oil-and-stone method), to improve the driving surface and reduce dust levels, 2) we hosted our first large RV rally with over 100 RVs, and 3) we utilized the Conference Center for the 1st time in over 30 years.  The rally utilized the Conference Center for activities, meetings, and a sit-down catered dinner and dance for ~225 people.  The success of the large rally was achieved thru the hard work and collaboration of the rally masters, the rally members, and the AIResort staff. 

In 2007, we improved our landscaping - by adding concrete walkways in key areas and improving the visual appeal of our buildings and grounds.  We re-designed our logo.  The symbolism in the new logo should be obvious:  with the blue waves representing water, the green wave representing the island, the orange half-circle representing a glowing sunset, and the silhouettes of an RV & boat representing our key target market.  A new line of logo wear & items is available in our store.  We also added 1- and 2-person sea-kayak rentals.

RVTV, a tv and entertainment production company dedicated to featuring the RV lifestyle, produced a show to highlight Association Island RV Resort & Marina, airing on TV in the US and Canada in 2007 as "Episode 405" on the Outdoor Channel and Outdoor Channel HD2 in the US and on the A Channel and the Chum TV channels in Canada.  Visit RVTV's website for more information.

Announcements:

***Key Development, Spring 2007:  Road Paving Completed.  Management is pleased to announce that road paving, utilizing the oil-and-stone method, was completed May 23, 2007.  We paved ~3 miles of roadway from our property line, which is before our access bridge, along Snowshoe Island, the causeway, and the major inner loops of Association Island.  We also installed speed bumps through-out the property to encourage motorists to abide by our 15 mph speed limit on the causeway and the 5 mph speed limit on Association Island.  According to Dr. Shim, the owner, "By paving the roads and installing speed bumps, we achieved our goals of providing a better driving surface, reducing dust levels, and providing a safer & more pleasurable environment for our customers."  The response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.  Several of our customers have commented, "The dust from the gravel roads in past years was our biggest concern, but now that you've paved the roads, we'll be back again and again!"

*** Key Development, Spring 2008:  Several Premium Lake-Front Sites Redesigned for Option to Back-in.   Additional sewer connections were added to sites H9 through H19 to provide a convenient site set up, to either pull-in or back-in to the sites.  Customers in 5th wheels with large rear windows, in particular, can now enjoy our fantastic water views from within their RVs.

*** Key Development, Spring 2009:  More Premium Lake-Front Sites Redesigned for Option to Back-in.  Customers with 5th wheel or travel trailers can now back-in to almost all of our Premium Lake-Front RV sites.  Additional sewer connections were added to provide a convenient site set up, to either pull-in or back-in to the Premium Lake-Front RV sites.  Customers in 5th wheels with large rear windows, in particular, can now enjoy our fantastic water views from within their RVs on these beautiful Premium Lake-Front sites. 

*** Key Development, December 2011: We joined KOA starting for the 2012 season!We are proud to announce that we have joined KOA as a franchisee starting for the 2012 season. AIResort will continue to be owned and operated by the Shim family but has made the decision to join the KOA system to garner better management and marketing practices. As we transition to the KOA system, we will be re-branding ourselves so customers will see our ads both as "Association Island RV Resort & Marina" and/or "KOA 1000 Islands at Association Island". All reservations booked to-date for 2012 will continue to be honored. Other than some minor confusion about our branding and ads, our existing customers should be assured that there is little or no downside to this transition, and our customers can only benefit from better operating execution and customer service. In addition to this website, you can find information and book online at http://koa.com/campgrounds/association-island.

Rest assured that we are constantly making improvements to provide our guests with the quality and amenities of a first class resort destination.  Our progress is undeniable - call or make your on-line reservation today and visit Association Island this season. 

*AIResort wishes to acknowledge and thank Max Bovee of Adams, NY and numerous other individuals over the years who have donated or allowed us to copy photos, news articles, and memorabilia that cover Association Island's history back to the early 1900's.