The now long defunct Flagler Hotel in Sullivan County’s Fallsburg had a rich tradition as one of the region’s premier resorts, and for decades was a trend setter in the industry.
In 1920, the Flagler introduced the distinctive stucco covered, parapet and Palladian window dominated architectural style now known as Sullivan County Mission. Soon, virtually every other Sullivan County hotel was following suit.
In 1929 Flagler owners Asias Fleischer and Philip Morganstern unveiled a state-of-the-art, 1500 seat theatre and hired two young men, Moss Hart and Dore Schary to head their social staff. Before long, every hotel of any size and stature in the area was hiring entertainers and developing some kind of shows for their guests.
By the 1930s, the Flagler was operating during the winter as well as the summer, and another trend among larger Sullivan County hotels was born.
On a sadder note, the once proud Flagler was in the forefront of the demise of the Sullivan County resort industry when in 1966 it became one of the first of the major hotels to file for bankruptcy protection, with owner Jack Barsky citing debts incurred in building the hotel’s new Empire Room nightclub, a new indoor pool, and a new lobby for dooming his business.
And long after the region’s Golden Age of tourism here had ended, the Flagler became part of yet another trend, the re-purposing of the county’s many closed hotels.
The trend actually started in 1966 when Pauls Hotel in Swan Lake was reborn as part of the Daytop Village rehabilitation institute. By the end of the 1970s, the concept of converting old hotels for other uses had become commonplace enough that the New York Times took note in an article that focused on the Flagler’s new life as the Crystal Run School.
By that time, the Flagler had already been through a brief existence as the Fountains of Rome, a reincarnation sparked by the expectations of casino gambling which ended so suddenly after two years that the dishes from the last meal were left on the dining room tables. Then, in 1973 the property was purchased by Crystal Run and its re-purposing began.
“On the grounds of the former Flagler Hotel in Fallsburg, N.Y., retarded adults till a garden where golfers once teed off,” reporter Jonathan Steinberg wrote in a 1979 feature story. “Guest rooms are now classrooms. The golf shop is an arts and crafts room and woodworking shop, and one of the bars is a home economics workshop.”
Steinberg noted that the Flagler was not the only former resort in the area to have taken on a new look:
“A sign outside the former Windsor Hotel in South Fallsburg proclaims it ‘Capital of the Age of Enlightenment.’ Inside, disciples of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi meditate in what has become a major center for transcendental meditation. Nearby, Swami Baba Muktananda took over the Gilbert’s Hotel two months ago for another meditation facility.”
The Times article pointed out that “the more renowned hotels of the area—Grossinger’s, Kutsher’s, Concord—remain successful, but many of the smaller hotel operators, with less exhaustive facilities, are trying hard to make ends meet:
“Their facilities are often marginal operations, and they, along with many of the region’s residents, await the hoped-for introduction of legalized gambling to revitalize the Sullivan County resort region, once characterized as the Borscht Belt.
“Conversion and rehabilitation of Sullivan County’s most important manmade assets, its hotels, could radically alter the face of the Catskills by reducing dependence on the fortunes of the resort industry and by instituting a new economic base. But the present changes are not without drawbacks.
“The area faces the social difficulties of absorbing a significantly different population, and the financial problem of dealing with declines in the tax base brought on by the tax-exempt status of these new institutions.”
Mention was also made of New Hope, “another hotel converted to a home for the retarded a few miles from Crystal Run.” New Hope had taken over the property that had been the New Roxy and then later Green Acres and opened its facility in December of 1975.
“The recent hotel conversions have brought a mixed bag of benefits to Sullivan County,” Steinberg wrote. “Revitalizing old resorts removes a prominent source of blight from the environment. The new institutions buy from local merchants and businessmen, and the substantial number of handicapped and retarded people living in the area—more than 1.5 percent of the 65,000 population—has turned Sullivan County into a ‘major health care community’ according to Mark Brandt, director of the local Association for Retarded Children.
“’There are quite a number of people who are making a living off of this,’ Mr. Brandt said.”
Brandt’s insight proved to be prophetic, as the ensuing years would see unprecedented growth in the healthcare industry in Sullivan County. Not only would New Hope make major strides in growing into the 720 seat dining room left over from the days of the New Roxy, but another organization, shortly to become known as The Center for Discovery, would begin its steady ascent to becoming one of the nation’s most innovative institutions for the disabled and Sullivan County’s largest employer.
Photo: The Flager Hotel.
…. add one more to your list of reborn hoitels : the old “Carmel Hotel” (aka “Karmel”) has taken on a new life as a renown acting and drama school, “Stagedoor Manor” in Loch Sheldrach, NY. Families from all over the country send their children there to one of three 3-week sessions each summer.
Bob…You’re absolutely right! One of the best kept secrets in the region…
Green Acres Hotel was the boys dorm when I went to Sullivan County Community College. Do you know what it is now???
The Green Acres, previously known as The Roxy and The New Roxy, is still the New Hope Community for the developmentally disabled…
“In December of 1975, the New Hope Community, a facility caring for people with developmental disabilities, opened its doors at the former site of the recently closed Green Acres Hotel in Loch Sheldrake.
The property had most notably been home to the New Roxy, once among Sullivan County’s more popular hotels, which had closed its doors just prior to Labor Day weekend in 1966. Interestingly, the conversion of the resort to the New Hope facility continued a trend started that very same summer of ‘66, when the former Pauls Resort in Swan Lake was re-purposed as Daytop Village.”
Wow I worked there as a councilor when it was still the hotel. My Fathet was security, my Mother worked the switchboard, Brother was a lifeguard and Sister was also a councler!
I went to Sullivan county community college in 1970 and our Dorm was a hotel but I cannot remember the name of that hotel. By any chance do you recall the name? It was co-ed at that time.
Probably the Olympic Hotel, on Old Falls Road in Fallsburg. It burned in 1976. It was down the road, and on the other side, from the Palms/Eldorado/Zeiger’s which I think became SCCC dorms after the Olympic was gone.
I worked as a waiter at the Flagler Hotel while in College 65-69
The owners, Barskys were great and worked in the Winters as well. Great memories. I believe that they were the first Hotel to have an Olympic pool outside.
Does anyone know the history of the Salhara Hotel in South Fallsburg NY?
It was owned by my aunt and Uncle,
Sally and Harry Friedman. I have such fond memories of spending summers there in my youth.
The Salhara Hotel was actually in Woodbourne, a short distance from Fallsburg (well, actually it is one of the villages in the Town of Fallsburg; the village of Fallsburg is also in it). Since the mid-to-late sixties, it has been Camp Tichon Bais Yaakov (known by its acronym Camp Tubby), beautifully kept up and expanded. The original main house,which contained the office and dining room, is still there, serving the same purpose.
I attended the camp for several years in the seventies; I believe your aunt and uncle still lived in the house right outside the camp gate. I remember that even though it was a camp, the owners were very careful not to allow any announcements over the loudspeaker after a certain hour, out of respect and consideration for the Friedmans. I recall your aunt and uncle sitting in front of their house and lawn chairs and smiling at us campers as we set out on a hike to town.
You probably remember the lake where we enjoyed rowing activities. The two attached buildings on the lake side of the campus were used for morning and afternoon prayers and for night activities, such as contests and musical performances; the smaller building was our canteen.
Years later, the camp administration decided it would be safer not to have the kids crossing the road all day, so they built a new facility on the main side.
The camp owners, Rabbi Aaaron and Rebbetzin Rachel Kahn, are wonderful people.
Hi….I went to the Salhara with my step mom for a few weeks each summer of 1964, 1965 and 1966. Best summers of my life. Had a ball. hung out with some if the staff. I was 14, 15 and 16 those summers. Watching Mrs Maisel brought back those times so I started researching the hotel and found your note. I remember Sally and Harry. My step mom knew them well.
Oh my god! I was just trying to remember their last name, as I spent time there back in the day. I was starting to think I made it all up!
This might be a little belated.
Sali and Harry were my Aunt and Uncle..
I am Francine Friedman Heit.
Harry was my Dad’s older brother.
I remember you and your brother and parents coming to the hotel.
I think your father represented a silk scarf line.
You lived in Syosett then..
What wonderful times those were….
A fascinating read. I worked at Crystal Run School summer 1978 on ‘Camp America’ ; one of about 20 european students taken on to run the summer programme. I do have a few photographs from that summer taken on a Kodak Instamatic camera! I can just make out the word ‘Flagler’ written on the water tower behind the main building. I knew nothing about the early history as a hotel. What a fantastic summer we had; Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever was played rather a lot, BBQs, and The Band’s film ‘The Last Waltz ‘ was showing in Monticello
Hi. I’m reminiscing, and remember staying at this hotel as a kid when I was maybe 10 years old. My parents were New Yorkers, but my brother and I grew up in Maryland. Fond memories of staying there. When I got older, I always wanted to go back and stay at some of the legendary Catskill hotels. I think we also stayed at the Commodore Hotel one summer. Now they are all gone and I never got to go back. Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies.